


Just Another Superhero

by TheFlamingAce



Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, BAMF Peter Parker, Child Abuse, Dead May Parker (Spider-Man), Depression, Dissociation, Eating Disorders, Genius Peter Parker, Homeless Peter Parker, Hurt Peter Parker, Identity Reveal, Original Character(s), Orphan Peter Parker, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Physical Abuse, Secret Identity, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2020-05-02 13:57:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 28,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19200259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFlamingAce/pseuds/TheFlamingAce
Summary: Peter always was a genius, it was just hard to see when life always dragged him back down. Encountering Tony Stark on one of his patrols was the first step for the world in which they come to realise how lucky they were to have him in the first place.





	1. Nanobots and Head Concussions

Peter Parker was a child genius. He remembered Uncle Ben praising him on his job on the kitchen microwave, fixing it faster than most adults.  But now a days, his talents remained unnoticed, using his knowledge only when necessary to survive. The foster system wasn’t that bad at the moment, currently his foster parents let him do what he want, and in return he took care of himself, only using their house for the rickety bed in the attic.

He found himself swinging around New York more often than not, other than the required hours at school, he spent most of his time as Spiderman.

It was 3 am when he returned home today, the ripped suit stuffed into his bag messily as he plugged his earphones into his makeshift phone. Turning on the screen was a instant relief, listening to the soothing voice that rang out.

“Welcome back Peter, how was your patrol?”

 The Ai’s name was May; Peter created her when he was 14 on a whim, but every day he finds her presence proving more and more worth it.

“It was fine” Peter hummed, jiggling the lock with the keys quietly and slipping into the empty house.

“I took down a few robbers. Picked up a few strays and took them to the shelter, you know, the usual”

“That is wonderful peter, have you had your midnight lunch yet?” May question softly.

‘Midnight lunch’ was something they came up with in order to sooth the Ai’s worries about his eating habits, Peter tried his best to  adhere to this new meal, but more often than not he forgot to, much like today.

“Uhh” peter avoided looking at the phone guiltily, “no?”

“Peter” The Ai’s voice sounded disappointed, but amused, “that’s the third time this week, please consider fixing your diet sometime soon”

The stairs creaked as he snuck upstairs, zeroing in on the sleeping foster dad in the room to his right, before forgoing the ladder and leaping up to enter the trapdoor into the attic.

His room didn’t consist of much; most of it was actually filled with boxes of storage for the foster family. His own stuff was just a bed and his ‘workstation’. His workstation was his pride and joy, a desk at first glance, but after getting out some of his machines it turned into a high-tech workstation for his Spidey and science needs.

The main component was the reverse engineered Hologram he did when he was 16 before May passed; it was currently showing his latest idea for the suit, spider legs. It was stupid and probably required more materials then he could possibly find in dumpsters like he usually did, but he adored the design and was looking forward to building it one day.

He eyed the hologram for a moment, swiping left in order to take a quick look at the web shooter designs. He glanced at his own wrist thoughtfully taking in the warped metal from years of usage. Perhaps it was time for an upgrade.

He shrugged this off with a small sigh, shrugging off his hand me down jacket and heading to the bed, phone still in hand; toeing his shoes off on the way.

“May can you do me a favour and check to see if any of the local metal manufacturing sites have any cheap metal for sale?” he asked as he crawled into bed, pulling the soft sheets over himself as he did, placing the phone by his pillow.

“Of course peter” May answered warmly, “would you like the weather tomorrow in the meantime?”

“Yes please”

Peter closed his eyes, listening as May rattled off the predicted weather, a light drizzle apparently. She proceeded to list off a few more days of predicted weather, already understanding he just needed her voice in order for him to sleep.

Towards the end, he started to drift off, lulled into a blissful sleep by the familiar voice.

Only to be jerked awake by the sound of a shrill alarm, the most annoying one he could think of.

Blinking his eyes open blurrily, he glanced over at his phone.

“Good morning Peter” May greeted cheerfully, “it is 7am and it has yet to start raining, it is time to get ready for school”

The resulting groan caused May to quickly continue, “You got a total of 3 and a half hours sleep last night, might I suggest taking a night off patrol tonight?”

“You may but I won’t” Peter groaned, taking a quick sniff of his armpit before deciding to forgo the morning shower, “I got to keep up with patrols or criminals may start getting cocky!” he exclaimed, wriggling out of bed and grabbing the baby wipes next to his bed, he quickly wiped himself over, making sure to get the dried blood on his arms and face.

“As always Peter” May sounded disappointed and a wave of guilt followed, Peter sighed.

“I’m sorry May… I just” he tried to articulate his argument, but fell short as his hands fell back to his sides with a sigh.

“I understand” May sighed before raising her voice cheerfully, “the bus leaves in 10 minutes, it is on time today; you should head out soon! Remember to grab breakfast on your way out”

Peter nodded, he quickly grabbed his bag, shutting off the hologram with a flick of his fingers and hurriedly throwing on his shoes.

Sliding the ladder out of the trap door, he slid down, shoving the ladder back up haphazardly. One look at his foster parents room let him know he was alone still.

He wasn’t surprised.

 

* * *

 

 

He left school early that day, covered in more bruises then when he started.

Tucking his earbuds into his ears, he shrugged his backpack further onto his thin shoulders.

“How’s the police radio going May?” he whispered, eyeing the dark clouds hovering overhead.

“The criminal activity is quiet, only one robbery nearby while you were in school, If you are planning on going on patrol early I suggest eating”

“Right” Peter nodded, remembering the measly piece of toast he had for breakfast this morning, “I have some spare change to get something nearby”

“There is a corner store selling sandwiches for cheap a couple of blocks down” May replied, pleased. If she had a head, she would be nodding approvingly.

Peter headed to the directions given, grabbing an egg sandwich and quickly snacking on it as he headed to his favourite alleyway.

The moment he was behind the not that bad smelling dumpster he crouched down, rummaging through his bag to pull out the spare spider suit, his main one still needs to be fixed after a knife to the stomach the other night; so all he had was this experimental one.

As he pulled it on, he muttered to himself, “hope this works” he adjusted the suit to fit comfortably, “otherwise I can’t patrol”

“What a shame” May spoke up sarcastically, making Peter stifle a laugh.

He stuck out his tongue, finally feeling comfortable with the position of the suit.

This suit had the same pattern as usual, but the mask was missing, it was unlikely to be very useful without the technology he’s been working on.

Feeling around on the side of the neck, his fingers slid over the cool button on his neck, pressing it softly he sucked in a small breath as the familiar mask materialised before his very eyes, covering his vison for a moment before May spoke up, close up and around him.

“It seems your project has worked Peter” she exclaimed fondly, “how does it feel?”

He blinked, looking around, bending his neck this way and that, taking note of the soft encased feeling around his face barely moving as he did.

He let out a sigh of relief, “it feels great!” he glanced down at his wrist, words popping up as May scanned his web shooters.

80% full, he could work with that, he crouched down to grab some extra web fluid containers just in case, strapping it to his belt carefully.

“Seems everything’s as good as its gonna get” Peter sighed, stretching as he shoved his bag behind the dumpster, ignoring the nauseas feeling that rose at the sick squelching sound that followed.

“May, anything happening nearby?” he questioned, already scaling the wall to get a good view of the area.

“Not much peter,” she started, “but there has been a recent police call about some shady figures a few streets over”

“I’ll take a loo-“

He had only just gotten to the roof when his eyes immediately shot upwards. At first he couldn’t see much against the glare of the sun, but when he did his eyebrows shot up into his hairline.

“May is that a car????” his voice filled with confusion as he watched the large vehicle soar across the city, crashing into a building out of sight a few seconds later.

May didn’t answer for a moment, perhaps scanning the radio once more.

“It seems Rhino is causing a ruckus today Peter” she sounded displeased as she reported her findings, quickly rattling off an address.

Peter nodded, frown returning as he leapt into action, swinging towards where the earth, and air, seemed to shake with intensity.

He caught sight of the looming figure before May could warn him. He immediately scanned the area, noticing the police cars barricading streets off on all sides, guns firing and only serving to rile up the man even more.

He started to charge, startling Peter into action, sling shotting himself forward towards the figure. He hit his helmet heels first, pain shot up his legs as he bit back a cry. Thankfully the force was enough to knock the Rhino clean over with a shout of rage.

Spiderman hit the concrete with a thud, scrambling to his feet to face the beast.

“Oh come on Rhino, you really doing this today? You just got out of prison, why not get a hotdog!”

Rhino opened his mouth to reply, but Spiderman had already charged, leaping above his head to punch the side of the man’s face, knocking him to the side.

“You see, there’s this really good hotdog stand just a few streets over” Peter rambled, “its got the BEST sausages, I mean, who knows what’s in them you know” he held on as Rhino started to thrash around, “but they are still AMAZING, so I don’t care-“

He cut himself off with a yelp as Rhino crashed into a wall back first, squishing Peter in-between concrete and his hard armour.

Warning signs flashed in his vision as Mays voice rang out, “Peter your ribs are fracturing as we speak, get out of there!” she sounded frantic.

Peter gasped out, raising his arms to brace himself against the hulking figure. With all the strength he could muster, he shoved the man off him, immediately letting out a shaky breath as he hit the floor, scrambling to his feet again to avoid the horn of Rhinos helmet as it hit the wall millimetres by his face. He jumped back a few more times, putting distance between them in order to check his ribs. He winced as he poked a sore spot.

“You have 3 fractures peter” she scolded, “I suggest either calling backup or ending this quickly”

He nodded, too out of breath to speak for a moment.

Sucking in another breath, he managed to act casual as Rhino turned back to him with a furious grunt.

“Not that I don’t like this dance dude, I’d rather you like,” he gestured to the destruction around them, “not?”

Rhino growled, eyes flashing furiously as he charged again, Peter let out a sigh, preparing to meet him head on for a moment before changing his mind.

He had lost a bit of strength lately with the lack of meals, it wouldn’t work this way.

With a growl of his own, he dodged the oncoming behemoth, attaching his webs to the back of his armour and pulling him off course, nearly hitting the police barricade; instead he crashed into a wall, putting a large shatter in the concrete.

With a cry of rage, Rhino reached back and grabbed the webs and threw. With only a moment to swear, Peter was thrown forcefully into the building across the street. He felt the concrete crack beneath him, at least he hoped it was the concrete. And he clutched onto wall desperately in order to avoid falling. With a small sigh, he hung his head to catch his breath, body bruised and aching all over. If this fight happened a year ago, he would have been able to beat him, easy peasy, but no. it had to happen in a month where food didn’t come naturally for him anymore.

For a moment he just clutched onto the wall, letting himself breath as rhino righted himself again.

“Need a Hand?”

His head shot up, eyes locking with the mask of THE Iron man. How did he NOT hear his suit? He really was off his game.

With a sheepish nod, Spiderman waved shakily; “uh yea” he started, trying to avoid his voice cracking, “I’m a bit off today, so a hand would be great!”

Though Peter couldn’t see his face through the suit, he swore he could SENSE the smirk on the billionares face.

“Sure thing kid, got a plan?”

Peter paused, giving it a moment of thought before nodding, “I’ve got a… web bomb thingy that should hold him down if we get him on the ground for a few moments, it takes a second to go off but it should work”

Tony nodded, looking over at where Rhino was facing them nostrils blaring angrily.

“He’s a brute isn’t he”

“Yea” Peter sighed, “He’s not fun to deal with”

Stark couldn’t help but agree, turning to face the ‘brute’ with a quick, “let’s go then” before firing off.

Peter was startled into following, firing off a web and sling shotting after him. Rhino charged at them head on with a roar.

Stark dodged the oncoming attack and shot a propulser beam at his back, it didn’t pierce his armour, but it did knock him off balance, he stumbled.

When peter saw he wouldn’t fall, he quickly shot out another web to the back of his raised foot, pulling with all his might. The Rhino fell flat on his face with a cut off shout, concrete crumbling beneath him.

Spiderman barely hesitated, grabbing the small container on his belt, praying to god this works, he hadn’t tested it in battle before, before pelting it at the man.

It hit the man like a bullet, and after a moment of silence he was engulfed in a cloud of white.

For a moment it was silent. Then Spiderman let out a shaky breath, “oh my god”

“Congratulations Peter” May spoke up proudly, “seems Rhino is down again with… minimal... Injuries” she trailed off sarcastically as he rubbed a sore spot on his shoulder.

He winced at that, letting out a small chuckle in favour of replying. Trotting over to the downed villain, he poked the thick web curiously. It held firm.

With a satisfied smile he waved over at the police officers, “hey guys he’s down, the webs will dissolve in about 4 hours; I suggest getting something to take him back to prison alright?”

Without waiting for a reply, he gave a quick thumbs up before swinging himself up onto the rooftops.

The moment he landed he heard the loud sound of Iron Man Approaching behind him, again how did he NOT hear him before, and he turned around to greet him.

“Nice work out there Spidey” Iron Man greeted.

“Likewise” Spiderman nodded, checking his web shooters absentmindedly, quietly he whispered, “May can you check to see if anything happening nearby, I should leave before I…fanboy”

He could feel the presence of the superhero next to him like a burning flame. So close his nerve endings felt fried just from being in his presence.

“So,” Peter started nervously, rocking on his heels as he spoke, “whats Ironman doing around here anyway, haven’t seen you in this part of town before” he cocked his head.

Stark shrugged, “testing out some new suit stuff when Friday informed me of that guy” he shot a thumb over his shoulder as he spoke, “figured you could use a hand”

“New suit stuff?” he blinked eyes wide with awe, “didn’t know you could fit much more in there, with all the rockets and holograms and Wi-Fi and Nano tech and all that stuff”

Starks mask popped open sudden, showing his eyes were narrowed, “how do you know so much about my new suit?” though his words were light, his eyes showed suspicion.

Peter felt his heart skip a beat, and he waved his arms around defensively, “O-Oh nothing bad Sir- Mr Stark!” His voice cracked mid-sentence and he prayed to god that a hole would swallow him whole before he makes more of a fool of himself.

 He continued anyway; “I am, I’m actually a big fan ya know? I did most of my high school papers on you creations and I, you know, recreated a bunch of your tech in my spare time so I had to do research on your suits in order to do it right you know…” then after a moments pause he spluttered, “not that I would recreate YOUR suit  or anything Mr Stark, I just, like knowing things and being able to reverse engineer things is always fun so sometimes I get carried away” oh god he was making it worse “but I wouldn’t MAKE it no, it’s not like I have the materials or anything- oh fuck no that’s not what I meant to say I meant, shit, I meant I’m a huge fan and I respect your creations a lot to reverse engineer them a lot but I wouldn’t steal them-“

“PETER” Mays shout brought him out of his rant with a flinch, slamming his hand to his ear in surprise. When he finally took a breath he got a good look at Tony Stark’s reaction.

He was laughing, an honest to god good old laugh, his eyes were scrunched shut but when he opened them a newfound warmness could be found there.

“ha-ha, it’s okay kid” he reassured, “I was just curious, didn’t know you were such a big fan” he teased, eyebrow raised in his direction.

Peter flushed, letting out a splutter as he went to reply, before his mouth fell shut as he thought better.

“Peter there is a robbery happening 5 minutes away, if you leave now you will make it in time”

That shook him out of his stupor, he turned his attention back to Stark.

“May just alerted me to something I got to take care of” he tried to act formal, but it was all out the window when his voice cracked, “sorry but I gotta go now Mr Stark” 

“Wait what? Who’s May? Wait do you have an AI or something-“

He jumped off the roof before he heard the rest, shooting off a web and flinging himself down the road flawlessly. His face was flaming and his nerves were fried with the vibrating excitement that ran through his spine.

“Oh my god May” he squeaked, “I did not just rant in front of Tony Stark, please tell me I was dreaming”

May laughed, a twinkling laugh that sent pleasant feelings through his chest, “no you were not Peter, but do not worry, I recorded it all for when you wish to relive it”

Mortified, he stumbled mid-air, barely catching himself before swinging again, “MAY NO” he screeched, “YOU DELETE IT RIGHT NOW”

May just laughed harder.

 

* * *

 

 

They were quiet when they arrived at the scene, 5 or so men unarmed were leaving the scene of the crime, wads of cash tucked into their bags and pockets. Seems easy.

He leapt into action, flipping onto the ground in front of them, a smirk on his face.

“Seems like a party today! Why wasn’t I invited huh?”

“SHIT” one man shouted, skidding to a halt, “ITS SPIDERMAN” he stumbled backwards, causing everyone to back up. One man in particular was shaking hard.

“Now if you just turn yourselves in that’d be swell-“

He cut himself off when his Spidey sense flared up, he ducked instinctively, narrowly dodging the bullet aimed at his head. Dread welled up in his stomach, guess they weren’t unarmed after all.

The men charged at him at once, panic evident in their eyes as they did.

He dodged left to avoid the fist to his stomach; instead he kicked out, hitting the man square in the chest and sending him flying. With a muffled wince, peter blocked another punch before having his Spidey sense send him sideways to avoid another bullet.

Spinning around he charged the guy with the gun. Instantly the man stumbled, shouting out something incomprehensible as he tried to aim. The gun was sent flying by a swift kick to his hands and then another sent him to the ground with a thud.

Peter shot a web to hold him down, but his spider sense went off suddenly, he went to dodge but wasn’t fast enough. Something hard slammed into the back of his head, pitching his vision white for a moment. He managed not to fall, only stumbling slightly as he felt pain flash through him

“-eter! Peter!” he didn’t even realise May was shouting at him, “Peter you took a really bad hit just there, you’ve got a concussion, get out of there!”

“No” Peter whispered, face scrunching up as he spun around to face the shocked criminals, ignoring the way his world twisted around him.

Webbing up the guy with the baseball bat was easy; he was still surprised he managed to land a hit. The next 2 tried desperately to fight back, but before Peter even registered it, he was leaning against the wall, the 5 criminals webbed to various places around the street. He was losing time, trying hard to remember how exactly he took them down.

“Peter, you need to get out of here, get a hospital!” May coaxed softly, keeping her voice low when she saw him wincing at the noises.

“No hoshpital” he slurred, keeping one hand on the wall for balance, he stumbled into the nearby alleyway.

“Peter” May whispered, “Please”

“nooooo” he whined, wincing again when his own voice shot pain through his head, “don wanna” he whispered, voice barely audible.

He couldn’t hear may as she continued to beg for him to get help, his world was spinning and his body ached, and yet he still slowly but surely climbed up the side of the building, unable to register the worried AI’s words speeding up desperately.

He fell onto the roof in a crumpled pile, clutching his head when pain engulfed him. A low whine started in his throat, and when he opened his eyes (when did he even close them?), his vison was turning to static.

“Peter…? Peter!” May frantically shouted, the last thing he heard before his head hit the concrete and his eyes fell shut.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Tony stark was silently flying south, towards the compound, when he received the call.

“Sir, an unknown number is currently calling your personal number”

This startled Tony enough for him to stutter mid-flight, “pardon?” he echoed.

“An unknown number-“ “yea, I heard you Friday, but this isn’t the first time this has happened, usually you hang up on it”

There was a moment of silence between them as Tony offhandedly observed the view below him.

“Sir I am afraid it is not allowing me to hang up”

“It’s not allowing-“ he spluttered, “did someone hack us??” he started heading for the nearest rooftop, flying and talking did not mix very well anyway.

“It appears so” Friday admitted.

“Okay” he sucked in a breath as his feet hit the concrete with a clang, “I’m on the ground, answer it”

There was silence as Friday went to do as she was told, and then a voice followed.

“Hello Mr Stark” a polite sounding women answered, a voice not unlike Fridays, “I apologise for the intrusion”

“yea yea, what do you want?”

He didn’t mean to sound harsh, but as soon as the words left his mouth he mentally winced.

She didn’t seem put off by it though, if anything she sounded amused, “you gave this number to Spiderman earlier, I am his AI, my name is May”

His brain seemed to short circuit, “what? AI? You don’t sound like an AI to me”

“Sir” she politely redirected the conversation, something about it seemed off to Tony, “I would love to continue bantering, as my creator has programed me to do so, but Spiderman is currently unconscious with a concussion on a rooftop back the way you came and I would appreciate it this conversation was short”

“Wait what” his eyes widened already spinning around to head back the way he came, “why didn’t you start with that?”

A small chuckle sounded through the intercoms, slightly robotic and inhuman. It set Tony’s nerves on edge.

“My apologises Mr Stark, I wished to introduce myself first”

“Perhaps not in a life threatening situation next time?” Tony took off, shooting another response the AI’s way, “what did you say his injury was again?” He mentally took stock of the first aid kit in the suit, he hoped what he had was enough.

“He has a concussion, 4 fractured ribs and several minor abrasions, the only thing that needs to get treated is the concussion Mr Stark”

He raised an eyebrow, starting to scan the rooftops the closer he came to his destination, “only the concussion? Fractured ribs should be treated as well”

She went quiet for a moment as if debating whether to answer, “he as accelerated healing, those should be fully healed within a couple of hours” she replied softly.

Finally Tony managed to spot the unconscious webslinger atop an apartment block; police officers were arresting a group of criminals nearby, perhaps the ones that managed to hit Spidey.

“Okay May I’m hanging up now, I’m here” he hung up without another word, approaching the apartment block swiftly.

He landed with barely a stumble, already going to crouch beside the figure. His chest felt cold at the sight, the small, _since when was he that small_ , figure rag dolling on the ground, breathe stuttering and blood dribbling over the ground around his head.

“Shit” he swore, “Friday do a scan please”

He couldn’t help but feel another swear rise up again at the sight of his sluggish heartbeat and injury count in his vision, to his surprise, a note at the bottom caught his eye.  He bit his lip, trying to ignore the flashing ‘malnourished’ symbol at the bottom, it wasn’t his business after all, he’s sure Spidey can take care of himself.

“Sir It seems in order to access the head injury you have to take off the mask” Friday’s voice shook him out of his thoughts, “the injury is on the back of the head and requires immediate-“  
  
“No need” Mays voice, suddenly so much closer and intense than before, interrupted causing him to jump, “if you try to take off the mask I will be forced to take drastic measures Mr Stark”

He tried to ignore the threat, instead he glanced around, “did you … hack into my suit?!”

“Indeed” May hummed, “I felt it was the best way to communicate with you at this point in time”

“Did he program you to do that?” he gestured to the unconscious man.

“Perhaps” May snarked, before her voice changed as she seemed to straighten herself up, “Mr Stark, you have no need to remove the mask, Watch.”

“Watch what-” before he even finished speaking, his attention was caught by the shifting of the Spiderman mask. Before his very eyes it shifted and the back of his mask slowly dissipates, much like how his own Iron man suit does. Nanobots, his mind supplied, but his surprise made it impossible to think of anything else as he watched. Within a few moments, it stopped halfway, only the front of his mask stayed; revealing curly brown hair soaked with blood.

For a moment Tony was quiet, just staring, before May spoke up,

“I suggest rolling him over to access the back of his head first” she said softly, “flush it out with sterile water and wrap it, it should be enough until his healing takes over”

“Wait he has nanobots? How?” he exclaimed, but got to work none the less, softly rolling the body over, wincing as the fleshy wound came into view.

“It was a recent experiment of his” May spoke fondly, “only the mask is this way so far”

“Impressive” Tony hummed, eyebrow rising as he accessed is first aid kit, “he mentioned he reverse engineered some stuff earlier, that true?”

“Very, he finds it entertaining, but also helpful in the long run”

Rather than replying, Tony pulled out the bottle of saline solution and syringe, drawing up a decent amount as he did. He softly pushed the hair back away from the wound, fighting back a wince at the sight of the blood.

Swallowing back his nausea, he started emptying the solution onto the wound, sucking in a breath when Spiderman tensed under the treatment.

“May how unconscious is he?”

“Now that you mention it” she hummed, going silent for a moment before continuing, “his wound is already healing it seems, quickly wrap it before he-“

A red fist flashed out, hitting Tony square in his armoured chest, sending him flying. He drew in a gasp as he hit the ground a few metres off, faceplate automatically lowering to show him the warnings that were now blaring.

Spiderman was sitting up, looking around blurrily, unable to focus on much it seems.

Tony sucked in a nervous breath, hand brushing over his chest as the nanobots repaired themselves, if it was his usual suit it would be heavily dented.

“Hey kid” he called out, causing Spiderman’s gaze to snap to him, “you should lay back down, I still need to wrap that head wound”

Spidey just stared, eyes wide before a shaky hand reached up and brushed over the side of his head, “Mr Starrk?” he slurred softly.

“Yea it’s me kid” his mask flipped open again so spidey could see his face, “but seriously can you lay back down now? You’re giving me a headache just looking at ya”

“Maaayyyy!”

“Great now your ignoring me”

“Maayy I’m hallucinating agaaain, can you do the thing?”

Tony blinked, “again?”

Peter didn’t seem to hear him; instead he seemed to be listening to whatever May was saying to him. Then his eyes widened, “oh heck” his gaze shot to Tony again, “you’re real”

“That I am, we met like, an hour ago?” he joked, but watched closely as Spiderman’s eyes narrowed at their surroundings again.

“we did?”

“Yea kid, I gave you my number and everything, May’s the one that got me here”

“you did? Why?”

“Thought you could do with a superhero friend ya know, the usual”

Despite the joke, Spiderman nodded seriously, “as you do”

Peter reached up, feeling around his head curiously, wincing as fingers came in contact with the wound.

“Hey I wouldn’t play around with that if I were you”

“Well you’re not me!” he pouted, sticking his tongue out playfully only to hit the front of his mask.

Tony blinked, only seeing a small lump where he assumed his mouth was, “did you just…stick your tongue at me?” he blanched.

“NO” Peter exclaimed, crossing his arms, ignoring the twinge in his ribs as he did so.

There was a moment of silence then peter softly muttered to himself, “nanobots taste weird”

Tony, exasperated, let out a bark of laughter before dragging a hand down the front of his face, “okay, okay, can I wrap your head now please?”

Peter turned to him again with narrowed eyes, considering his options thoughtfully before nodding.

Tony let out a relieved sigh, pulling out the roll of bandages, finally.

He kneeled down behind the spider, and slowly but surely wrapped his head, taking extra care when Spiderman winced or flinched. But sure enough, it didn’t take long to finish, though Spidey looked kinda strange with a bandage around his head.

“thanks Mr Starrk” Peter slurred slightly, grimacing at his own words, “gonna have to stay here until it heals though”

Tony raised an eyebrow, “you sure? I could fly you anywhere you need to go if you like”

“Nah” Peter waved a shaky hand his way, “ill just sleep here tonight and skip classes in the morning”

“aaah,” Tony hummed, “college doesn’t mind you skipping a day or two?”

“naah”

“That’s good then, well you’ll call me if you need someone to write you a doctors note”

“Stark, you aren’t a doctor”

“but I got a PHD or two, that’s gotta count for something right?”

Peter huffed in amusement, lying back down, using his arms as a pillow, “don’t think it does actually, though you wont be using me to find out, how would I explain to the teachers why flipping Iron Man signed me off”

Letting out a bark of laughter, Stark turned away, “good point kid, well if you’re all good and not gonna die on me or anything, ill be heading off”

Rolling his eyes, Spiderman nodded, “yea sure, safe flying Mr Stark”

“Just Tony is fine kid, you’re making me feel old” Tony insisted, flipping his faceplate down as the boosters roared to life.

“Sure thing Mr Stark” Peter laughed, giving a half-hearted salute where he lay.

Tony’s laugh was muffled behind the helmet as he gave his own salute before taking off.

 Leaving Spiderman alone, bathing in the setting sun. At least his healing was finally kicking in.

 

 

 


	2. Panic attacks and Failures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting mistaken for being homeless has some dire consequences

It was only a couple days later when he meets Stark again. It’s late at night and it was around time for his midnight lunch, May was insisting he had it tonight, so it was hard to ‘forget’ about it again.

He landed in the alley he started the patrol in, shuffling around in his bag to collect his wallet, and then paused.

He glanced down at his wallet, fidgeting with it for a moment and opening it.

A few loose coins dropped out, but that was it.  Letting out an exaggerated groan, Peter shoved the few coins into his pocket then shoving the wallet back into his bag.

“Maaaayy” he whined, “May the bullies took all my money agaaain”

An audible sigh replied, “I told you to leave some at home Peter” she scolded, “how much have you got left? I’ll look around for something to have”

Peter counted the change, making a face when he did, “3 dollars 60 cents”

“You know what that means Peter?” May questions, pulling up a map in his peripheral vision.

Instantly, Peter pulled a sad face, “I don’t have enough money for chicken nuggets!” before chuckling like a maniac.

“What no? Is that one of those memes again?”

“A Vine actually, but close enough” he waved her off, “I’ll show you some later, I’m starving now though, so let’s go get that food!”

“Shouldn’t you change first?”

He shrugged, glancing down at his Spiderman suit, “Spider-men eat, what’s weird about Spider-man going to town and ordering a hot dog?”

“A sandwich actually, the 24 hour store a few blocks down is in the middle of a ‘Dollar a sandwich’ deal”

“My point still stands”

Glancing at the map, he headed off, swinging through the city, making sure to keep his change in his pocket.

Peter found the place in record time, landing with a flourish outside the automatic doors. He caught a glimpse of a stunned cashier watching him from inside and he couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle at the sight.

Strolling in casually, he headed to the sandwiches, feeling the cashiers eyes on him at all times. Though it set his nerves on edge, he couldn’t help but be amused; must be surreal to see a superhero rock up in the dead of night to buy a sandwich.

With that thought in mind, he selected two ham sandwiches and headed to the counter, sliding the packages across to the cashier with a wild smile, “just this please ma’am”

She jerked out of her stupor with a stutter, “u-uh sorry, yea that’ll be” she glanced at the sandwich, “a dollar?” she seemed confused, glancing at him then the till as she rung up his change.

“You… You’re Spider-man right?” she questioned curiously, eyes wide and awed.

He nodded, suddenly feeling a bit sheepish, perhaps he shouldn’t have laughed before, “yea that’s me, the one and only spider guy” he paused, “unless you saw some other spider guy around, cause like as cool as that’d be that’s kind of my shtick ya know?”

She nodded awkwardly, “n-no you’re the first I’ve seen” she passed him his change with a small smile, “you saved my mother a few weeks ago” she admitted, “I’ve been wanting to thank you”

He glanced down at his change, surprised to find the same amount of money he gave her in the first place, “o-oh!” he exclaimed, ignoring the voice crack, “You don’t have to! I can pay for it” he held out his money again, insistently.

She just smiled, pushing his hand back to him, “it’s just a dollar, I can pay for it” she paused mid-sentence, looking him up and down for a moment, “besides, I feel like you could do with a good sandwich”

He sheepishly nodded, rubbing the back of his head, “w-well thank you I guess; this is a first for me”

She laughed, “Expect it more often then, everyone I know loves you, it’s about time we did something for you for once”

With that last sentence she waved him good bye with a quick “have a nice night!”

He left with a smile on his face and butterfly’s in his stomach, a warm feeling seeping through him.

“Did you see that May” he gushed, swinging off into the night, “she was so cool!”

“I did indeed peter” she chuckled, “she seems like a nice person”

“I’ll have to visit there again!”

“Sure Peter, they do have a good deal on sandwiches”

It didn’t take long to approach his usual resting place, within minutes he was near the tall apartment block. Turning one last corner, his eyes found the spot, only to blink in surprise at the figure already chilling there. Who else chills on a rooftop at midnight besides him?

The closer he got, the more his eyes widened.

“Oh my god” he whispered, swinging closer with every second that passed, “is that Iron Man?!”

“It appears so Peter” May mused.

“Oh god, I was concussed last time I talked to him” he groaned, “He probably thinks I’m an idiot”

“Anyone is an idiot while concussed Peter” May scolded halfheartedly, “just go see what he’s up to, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind”

Peter snorted, “the last time I approached someone with intent for friendship I got beat up in a bathroom, but sure let’s try again”

May went quiet, letting him approach the man on his own.

Breathing in shakily he swung his way towards the man, taking note that he wasn’t in his suit at the moment, instead he was snacking on a burger.

Tony glanced up at him, surprise coating his features before waving him down. Peter obliged, landing beside the man with a flourish.

“What’s up Mr Stark?” he greeted casually.

Tony rolled his eyes, “didn’t I tell you to call me Tony kid?” he mused, scratching his chin thoughtfully as he did, “I’m pretty sure I did?”

Peter shrugged, “idk man, I’m pretty sure I was out of it at the time, perhaps I forgot” he winked, muffling a snicker as he did.

Tony’s eyes widened, “oh right, how is that going by the way? Didn’t miss many classes I hope?”

“Classes?”

“Didn’t you say you were gonna skip your lectures the next day?”

“Oh” Peter faltered, “I guess I forgot about that as well”

“You went to class then?” Tony inquired, perplexed at the idea of going to class with such an injury.

“Yea?”

“With that injury?”

“It was healed by then” Peter reassured, “my healing factor does wonders overnight”

Tony let out an appreciative whistle, “That’s impressive” before taking a bite of his burger. Around the bite he bumbled, “have you tested it yet?”

Peter shook his head, “don’t have the resources for it, besides I don’t feel like getting hurt for science” he gestured to himself, “I’ve done enough hurting on the job as it is”

Stark nodded his head, “that’s fair” he swallowed, “what else can you do?”

Blinking in surprise, Peter sat down beside him, considering whether it was a good idea to reply. Tony seemed to sense this as he quickly back tracked, “I mean, you don’t have to tell me if you gotta keep up that mysterious hero look”

Laughing, Peter shook his head, “nah its fine, it isn’t that serious, just thinking on where to start”

After another moment to think, Spider-man turned back to Tony.

“I got like, enhanced senses n stuff, not to mention super strength and reflexes” Peter explained, fidgeting with his hands for a moment, “Healing as I said before, and it kinda fixed my eyesight as well, so who knows what else it did to my body” he shrugged, “I could develop more for all I know”

“Wait” Tony stared wide eyed, “it fixed your eyesight? So you weren’t…” he gestured vaguely, “born with it?”

Spider-man laughed, “nah, no backstory for you though, too personal”

“Aww” Tony pouted, glancing at his burger again, “dang, just as I was getting to the juicy bits”

“What you don’t find my powers juicy?” Peter teased, forcing a laugh from Tony.

“No, no, it’s interesting, it’s just, everyone’s interested in your identity and how you came to be a superhero” he sobered momentarily, “how could I not be curious?”

Peter went quiet, watching Tony’s face as he gazed into the streets below. He seemed kind of… sad? It was hard to explain since he had one hell of a poker face. Ignoring the nagging anxiety in the back of his throat, Peters gaze drifted to the stars as he spoke.

“I got my powers by accident” he started softly, causing Tony’s gaze to snap to him, “and then  I couldn’t stop the death of someone close to me, and we’ll” he let out a bitter laugh, “losing them was the breaking point for me” he glanced at Tony, watching as his poker face twisted into something resembling pity.

“They were one hell of a hero in my life, so I felt like becoming one for others, it is my responsibility after all” Peter swallowed back tears for a moment, glad his mask covered his face so Tony couldn’t see the sadness in his eyes.

Stark was silent for a moment, before clearing his throat, “I’m sorry for your loss” he murmured, turning back to the burger, “but I’m sure it wasn’t your fault”

Peter’s face scrunched up bitterly, “it’s not like that was the last time it happened”

Tony took a bite of his burger, a dark look on his face once again. Seeing this, Peter shook himself off and, once remembering what he came here to do in the first place, pulled out one of the sandwiches. Popping open the plastic container caught Tony’s attention again and he blinked in surprise at the sad looking sandwich.

“What kind of sandwich is that” he inquired, eyes narrowed, “That looks like it’s been in the fridge a day too long”

Peter snorted, protecting his sandwich indignantly, “um excuse you, she’s beautiful just the way she is!”

Tony made a face, “it’s a sandwich dude”

“A beautiful sandwich!”

Tony rolled his eyes, “yea well, don’t settle for it, get yourself something better next time around”

Swallowing the pit in his stomach, Peter stuck out his tongue, “not everyone can afford a twenty dollar burger Mr Millionaire”

“Billionaire actually”

“Doesn’t change the fact I can’t afford your pretentious burgers”

Tony laughed, taking another bite of his burger and chewing thoughtfully. Peter took this time to take his first bite of his sandwich, he swallowed the nausea at the slightly soggy bread that filled his mouth, and instead swallowed, making to scoff it down in a couple bites. Taking that first bite really kick started his appetite for once despite the nausea.

Finishing off the sandwich, he went to pull out the next one when he noticed Tony was staring at him. Peter flushed red, prepared to defend his appetite when Tony spoke up, “do you not have a job?”

Surprised at the question, Peter stumbled with the sandwich, almost dropping it into the streets below. “

“It’s not that!” spluttered,  “I have an income! A decent one at that, I just-“ he suddenly cut off, realising quickly he can’t just say someone stole his money. Instead he raised his head, “I just live frugally, got to pay for college and all that”

Tony tilted his head, “I guess that makes sense” he paused, opening his mouth to say more, before hesitating and finishing off his burger.

In the silence May speaks up, causing him to jump.

“Peter it is coming close to 1am, and you have class tomorrow, I suggest heading home soon” she advised softly.

He sighed, quickly finishing his second sandwich before turning to Stark, “got to head out now Mr Stark, thanks for the chat, and the…” he paused, “absolutely wrong opinion on my beautiful sandwich!”

Tony snorted, waving him off, “sure thing Spidey, perhaps we’ll see each other again”

“Well if you ever need me I usually do my midnight lunches here” Peter gestured around, “though I don’t do it as much as I should”

“I feel ya there kiddo” Tony laughed.

“Seeya then Mr-“

“Tony!”

“Mr Stark!”

Tony rolled his eyes, waving him off playfully, “just go Spiderkid”

“Um, I’m Spider MAN actually, get it right next time”

Tony smirked, “Only if you call me Tony”

Pouting, Peter turned away, giving one last wave before swinging off into the streets of New York.

 

* * *

 

 

The third time they saw each other, Peter was just Peter, no Spider-man suit or mask in sight. He had spent the whole day searching the industrial and shopping area for cheap metal and scraps. The most he got was a few scraps from a dumpster nearby while dumpster diving. He sniffed indignantly at that thought, he didn’t prefer to do it, but it was needed, even if it left him smelling like a drowned rat.

He shivered, clutching his jacket closer to his chest and glancing down at his phone. He wasn’t wearing his earplugs currently; he was getting a few strange looks for ‘talking to himself’.  He wished to talk to May, but he already had a suspicion a few people were going to call the cops on him, he didn’t want to aggravate that.  Tilting his head back, he scrunched his eyes against the glare of the midday sun, he eyed the rooftops, letting out a wistful sigh. He already told May this was his day off, but god did he want to head out and patrol today.

Glancing at his phone one last time, it was 1:20 pm and almost time to head home, he shoved it in his pocket. Pulling out his wallet, he shuffled through it, counting the leftover change from the allowance he received yesterday.  Biting his tongue, he mentally calculated whether it was worth buying lunch today or grabbing something at home.

Mid thought, he didn’t notice the approaching crowd until it was right in front of him. He flinched at suddenly being surrounded, but his Spidey sense didn’t go off so he tried to swallow down the anxiety.  Looking around, he tried to find the source of the crowd, and it took a couple of minutes for him to find it. The crowd parted just enough for him to catch sight of the one and only Tony Stark.

Peter blinked in surprise, cocking his head as he watched Tony try and subdue the crowd somewhat. By the looks of the cap and glasses he was trying to lay low, but failed miserably. Peter couldn’t help but muffle a small giggle of amusement, shaking his head before going to count his change again. He glanced up one last time, only to freeze when he met the billionaires gaze.

_Did he recognise him?_

He froze up, eyes immediately averting back to his change, hands shaking now with nervousness. The anxiety was welling up again, and he couldn’t do much to stop it, instead he stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets, hiding how shaky he was from the world.

His Spidey senses caused him to freeze moments before footsteps approached him. A small gasp rose from the crowd and his eyes snapped up instinctively. In front of him was Stark,  and at first Peter was confused, why was he talking to him?

But then his eyes trailed down to the hand outreached towards him. His eyes widened at the 100 dollar bill between his fingers.

“Here kid” Tony offered offhandedly, “looks like you could do with a good meal”

Peter stared wide eyed up at him, unable to find the words to explain what in god’s name he was thinking. After a moment of gaping he finally managed to find the words.

“Thanks- Thank you!” he spluttered, taking the note delicately, barely masking the flinch when their fingers brushed.

Tony just flashed one of those award working smiles, and straightened himself up, “just don’t go using it on drugs or anything okay kid?”

Peter nodded, still awestruck by the sheer amount of sandwiches he could buy with this single note.

Nodding to himself, Tony walked off, the awestruck crowd followed.

As Peter watched him leave, his face suddenly scrunched up as a thought occurred to him.  “Oh my god” he wheezed, fishing for his phone and plugging in his earphones, “May” he whisper shouted, “May did you SEE that?!”

“I did Peter” she mused, “you should save that”

“But-“ Peter bit his lip, “he thought I was homeless! I’m not homeless! I should give it to someone else who needs it”

Before May could respond, Peter sobered momentarily, “do i… look that bad?”

“Well you don’t look particularly healthy peter, and if my scans while you’re in the suit are any indication-“

“Okay, okay!” Peter cut her off, “I get it, I’m not healthy but I-I should give someone else this money”

“Peter” May sighed, “Honey, you need the money”

“But-“

“Peter!”

Peter winced, “god why did I program you to use the Mum Voice” he muttered, causing May to chuckle robotically.  With a small sigh, he stuffed the note into his pocket, rising from his seat.

“I’ll eat something at home” he stated, “save this money for later and everything”

May hummed in agreement, “that sounds like a good idea Peter, how was your search for metal today”

Peter groaned, shoving his hands in his pockets, “horrible, I found a few scraps in a dumpster but other then that everything was too expensive”

“At least you got something” May reassured, “we’ll see what we can do with it tonight”

“Yea, sounds good”

 

* * *

 

 

One boring subway trip later, he was walking up steps to his foster home. His earphones still in, he was listening offhandedly to some music. Unlocking the door, he headed straight for the fridge. His hands barely touched the handle before his Spidey senses snapped his gaze to the dining table.

There, sitting casually while reading a newspaper, was his foster father. His burly form silent and unsettling.

Peter froze up, snapping a awkward smile onto face, “Hi Robert!” he squeaked, wincing at the voice crack in his voice.

Rob watched him for a moment, before slowly lowering his paper onto the table.

“Hello peter” he greeted lowly, “how was your day?”

Everything about him screamed off to Peter, even his spidey senses thought so, he swallowed the fear in favour of replying.

“It was okay, just walked around town, hang with some friends, you know the usual” he laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head “what about yours?”

Rob shrugged, leaning back in his chair “it was fine, had to do with a few unusual phone calls though”

“oh really” Peter was sweating now, hands clammy he shoved them into his jacket pocket, not wanting the man to see how shaky he was becoming.

“Yea” The man hummed, sliding the newspaper towards the teen, “have you read the newspaper yet? Its got some quite, interesting articles” his voice dropped an octave, sending shivers of fear up Peters spine.

His eyes drifted to the newspaper, zeroing in on one that made his face pale. On the front page was a familer scene, featuring the attention grabbing headline of “Tony Stark Helps Homeless Kid”

His own confused face stared back at him.

“I didn’t know you were homeless Peter” he stood up slowly, voice low and dangerous, “I mean, you’ve been using our house for how many months? You’d think this would be a home by now”

“It is!” Peter squeaked, taking a step back as the man approached.

“Well no-one else knows that, all my co-workers have been calling, accusing me of being a shitty parent!” his voice was raising, and his gesturing was whizzing around too fast, too close.

“Your-” he growled, “Your SHITTY screw-up is getting ME in trouble with work, what are you going to do about that?!” his voice ended in a loud boom, “HUH?!”

Peter opened his mouth to reply, defend himself, anything, when his vision went white and he stumbled sideways. Holding his now stinging cheek, he stared up at the man, wide eyed and tears welling. The man’s hand was lowering again, but the redness in his palm really set in what had happened in Peters mind. He blinked slowly, staring up at the man, words blurring together as Rob screamed at him, screamed and shouted and gestured and everything that was just too much for him.

Rob didn’t notice the teen slowly withdrawing, instead his yelling calmed down, his hands fell, and for a moment a flash of guilt crossed his face. But as soon as his eyes found the newspaper again, they hardened, and he shot an angry look back at Peter, causing the boy to freeze up again. Instead of shouting again, he huffed, turning away and grabbing his keys and jacket on the way out. He slammed the door behind him.

Peter stared, eyes wide but unseeing, everything blurred together around unshed tears. Shakily, he took a step forward, and another, heading into his room, forgoing the ladder, he jumped up into the attic, stumbling on the landing and falling to the wooden floorboards.

He lay there for a moment, unseeing or hearing, before he slowly tuned into the world around him.

He didn’t even notice that May was yelling, shouting, screaming angry words in his ear, but now that he was trying to tune back into the world, he made an effort to listen.

“-DARE HE, I’M GOING TO HACK INTO EVERY BIT OF TECHNOLOGY HE OWNS, I WILL EXPOSE HIM , RUIN HIM, SEND HIM TO JAIL FOR THE THINGS HES DONE” May raged, voice edged with static, “PETER LET ME RUIN HIM, YOU DESERVE SO MUCH BETTER, PETER I-“ she cut herself off, suddenly noticing Peter wasn’t breathing properly.

“Peter?” she questioned softly, “Peter breathe, you’re okay, your safe, its May”

Aunt may. That’s all he heard, her name, a name that for a moment, sent chills down his spine. His face scrunched, hand reaching up to clutch his chest as he drew in a shaky breath, tears finally falling over his cheeks. He couldn’t breathe, everything was wrong, everything was so very _wrong_.

“Aunt May!” He cried out, “May I miss you so much p-please! I’m sorry! I missyousomuch!” he gasped out, sobs wracking his body as he curled up into a ball.

“Peter, Peter it’s me, May, try breathing alright it’s okay, just breathe”

“I’m sorry!” he gasped out among the watery sobs, “I can’t I can’t!”

“Peter, Peter you can, just breath, breath with me alright?” she comforted softly, “Breathe with me”

He shook his head, tears splattering onto the floor as he did, but through the haze he managed to follow the robotic breaths she let out.

“I’m so sorry” he gasped out again, shivering against the cold that was filling his system.

Slowly but surely, curled up into a ball and sobbing into the floorboards, he calmed down, breathing alongside his AI. 

He lay there for a moment longer, tears and snot staining his face, as he tried to gather the energy to move.

“Peter, are you back with me?”

“Yea May” he croaked, wincing at the sound of his wrecked voice.

“It’s still early, but perhaps you should head to bed” May urged softly.

Peter, instead of replying, slowly pushed himself off the ground, ignoring the shakiness in his limbs. once standing, he stumbled over to his bed, landing onto the mattress with a low groan.

“Would you like the weather for tomorrow Peter?” May queried.

Peter, screwing his eyes shut against the new onslaught of tears, rasped, “can you…. Can you sing for me?”

May went silent, “I believe I can Peter” she hummed, “which song would you like?”

“Something quiet… maybe a nursery rhyme… please?”

“Okay peter”

The tears fell freely now as he clutched onto the sheets surrounding him, stuffing his face into his pillow with a low sob. The soft melody of a nursery rhyme filled his ears, ripping another sob from his chest. And just for a moment, he was back with Aunt May, being sung to sleep once again.

 

* * *

 

 

The next morning was slow, he didn’t have the energy to do much outside of just existing, so May told him what to do and he followed.

He made it to school in record time for once, since he wasn’t distracted by patrol. Walking up to the school, he held his head low, eyes to the ground.

“Peter” May whispered in his ear, “Tom is ahead, please keep clear of him”

Peter nodded softly, eyes flashing up for a moment to spot the bully, before flashing down and adjusting his course. he had to get passed the boy though, so he purposely walked past while as far away as possible. But apparently it still wasn’t enough, as a second later his Spidey senses went off and he plummeted to the ground, foot hitting his ankle.

“Puny Parker!” a voice mocked, feet coming into his line of sight from his spot on the floor, “nice spot on the floor, looks good on ya”

Peter bit his lip, ignoring the taunt in favour of slowly rising to his feet. Instead of standing, a foot kicked him in the stomach again, and he swallowed a cry as it hit a particularly sore bruise.

“What’s wrong? Problems at home? Oh wait, you don’t have a home!” Tom jeered, a laugh bubbling in his throat, “Have to rely on pity to get what you want? What, you gonna pull some puppy dog eyes and bam, now you have a sugar daddy?!”

Peter winced, the first reaction today, and Toms grin widened, “ah, I see, no shocker there, you’re probably only useful for sucking dick anyway!”

Another kick to the stomach, but it wasn’t Tom, he glanced to the side, finally noticing the older kids surrounding him, so much for listening to his Spidey sense. Though it was hard to in this situation since it was screaming so loudly so constantly.

A kick to the arm forces him to draw his limbs into a ball, and that was when the kicking multiplied, kicks to the ribs, back, arms and legs and everywhere in between, he didn’t cry though, he refused to. His lack of reaction must have been a Debby downer, as this beating didn’t last as long as usual. Tom huffed, drawing back and crossing his arms, “so boring, what’s wrong with you? Emotionless bitch” he turned away, gesturing to his friends to follow, “Go die in a hole, no-one will miss you anyway”

Oh how he missed Midtown high.

He swallowed his feelings and stumbled to his feet once they were gone, wincing as joints cracked and muscles cramped, he was sure to be covered in bruises by now.

“Oh Peter” May sighed, “Perhaps you should go take care of that in the bathroom okay?”

He shook his head, “too late” he glanced at the time on his phone, “I got to head to chemistry”

May hummed, “fine, but please check it soon alright?”

“Fine”

So he headed to class. And apparently it was so boring he zoned out throughout it all, nothing in this public school challenged him anyway. Midtown didn’t, so why would this one? He must have answered questions though, as when he left, his teacher commented on his excellent answers. He just replied with a tired smile and left.

The rest of the day was a blur of easy equations and people tripping him, at one point he hit the floor at such an angle he heard a snap in his face. his nose broke, this scared the perpetrator away but no-one else seemed to notice. He just snapped his nose back into place and wiped the blood away.

Even heading home was a blur, and it was only when he was pulling his older Spider suit on that he snapped out of it.

Staring down at the mask in his hands, he glanced up, noting the grungy alleyway he found himself in. his bag was already shoved behind a dumpster, but the silence without May was deafening. Heart hammering in his chest he scrambled back into his bag, rummaging through before he pulled out an earpiece with a sigh. Slipping it into his ear, he pressed the button, slipping his phone into his suit pocket.

“Her Peter” she sounded relieved, “thought you forgot about me for a second there”

“Sorry” he rasped, “I wasn’t thinking”

“I know peter” May murmured, “you back now though?”

“Yea, need my brain to do patrol” he chuckled halfheartedly.

“You sure you’re up for it though?” May questioned, clearly worried, “perhaps a night off would do you good”

“I can’t May, I took Sunday off as well remember?” Peter insisted, slipping his mask on as he spoke.

May sighed, “Just take it easy okay?”

He definitely didn’t take it easy.

He made it to his midnight lunch alive though, sitting on the edge of his favourite apartment block, nibbling on a sandwich as he rested his left arm. He was sure something broke there after that last brawl, but if anything it was a fracture so he wasn’t too worried.

Taking another bite of his sandwich, he stared wistfully at the stars. His blinking was slow and for a moment, or perhaps longer, he didn’t move.

“Hey Spiderkid!”

He yelped swinging around and aiming his free hand at the figure. Too bad he was holding a sandwich as well.

Tony Stark stood there, nanobot armour dissolving around him until he was just in casual jacket and pants. 

He smirked, eyeing the sandwich in his hand, “what? Gonna attack me with a sandwich?”

“No” Peter muttered, “sorry” before lowering his hand back to his side, turning away to face the view again.

Tony shrugged, clearly amused, “that’s okay, and guess what I got?”  He held up a plastic bag, “gotcha some pretentious burgers to chow down on” he winked, “two for you actually”

Peter smiled; glad his mask was up to his nose since he didn’t really feel like speaking this time.

Tony sat next to him, pulling out a burger of his own before passing the other two to him, “they’re pretty awesome, i'm sure you can fit them in your schedule tonight”

Peter just hummed, taking another bite of his tasteless sandwich. 

Tony eyed him, before taking a bite of his own burger, he groaned in satisfaction, “god these never get old, you’re gonna love them kid, the best cheeseburgers in town!”

“I bet” Peter murmured, eyes locked on the bustling streets below.

Hearing such a lacklustre response, Tony stared at him swallowing his bite before speaking, “you okay Spiderkid? Usually you’re much more into your sad sandwich there”

Hearing this, Peter snapped his gaze up, quickly swallowing his bite too fast, almost choking, “sorry!” he rasped, wincing at the sound of his own voice anything above a whisper made his throat hurt.

Tony noticed this, and a worried look overtook his features, “did something happen?”

Peter shrugged, “no, just the usual, feeling a bit tired is all” he avoided Tony's gaze in favour of taking another bite, finishing off his last sandwich.

Tony was saying something again, but Peter couldn’t find it in himself to pay attention.

A hand on his shoulder brought him out of his daze, _violently_. He spun around, scrambling back a foot and in the process knocking one of the burgers off the building.

He managed to shoot out a web to snatch it back up, but the damage was done and Tony was staring wide eyed at him.

“You…did I do something wrong?” he gestured around wildly, “cause if I did I’m so sorry”

But all Peter could see was the erratic gestures in front of his face and he just, froze up, stock still, he couldn’t even breath.

Tony noticed this instantly and he froze, eyes widening and a flurry of wild emotions passed behind them.  Lowering his hands slowly, he pursed his lips.

“Something happened” he stated, it wasn’t a question.

“No-No!” Peter exclaimed, “N-No I’m fine!”

“Kid” Tony started, “you are obviously not fine, what’s wrong?”

Peter bit his lip, avoiding his gaze again, “I… I can’t tell you”

“Did someone hurt you?”

Peter stayed silent.

“Did someone _outside of patrol_ hurt you?”

He was going to stay silent, say nothing, brush him off with a joke perhaps, but instead, he nodded warily.

Tony’s face fell, hand dragging down his face, “god kid, can I… help you in any way?”

Shaking his head, Peter murmured, “not without revealing my identity”

Tony wanted to throw his hands in the air, but decided against it after Spider-mans last reaction, “I wont tell a soul! Just let me help you!”

“No” Peter snapped, “No absolutely not”

“Then please tell me you got someone to look after you!” Tony begged. “Parents maybe?”

Peter pursed his lips. Noticing this, Tony’s face fell again.

“Extended family?”

He thought of Aunt May, of Ben and his parents. He shook his head.

“Friends”

He thought of Ned, of MJ and even Flash, for a moment a deep longing left him breathless. He stayed silent, avoiding Tony’s gaze.

“A girlfriend?” Tony choked out, “or a boyfriend even?”

Peter faintly remembered homecoming, he remembered Liz and the vulture and absolutely _everything_. He clenched his fists tighter.

_“Anyone?”_

At the helpless tone in Starks voice, Peter looked up, trying desperately to keep his lip from quivering, “no one” he stated, voice monotone.

The broken look on his face caused Peters eyes to widen. Why did he care? A cold flash of anger shot through him and he stood up, storming across the rooftop.

Tony blinked after him, “wait, where are you going? Let me help you!” he scrambled to follow, burger forgotten on the concrete ledge.

“Stop it” Peter Spat, “Stop-“ he spun around, “-Pretending to care! Stop it! No-one Cares! No-one! It’s just a fucking-“ he grasped for the words, “fucking publicity stunt!”

Tony flinched as if he’d been stabbed in the chest, eyes wide, “Wha-“

“Whenever someone pretends to care,” Peter shouted, voice rising, “Whenever they pretend to care it’s just to look good to their _co-workers_ ” he spat the last word like a curse, eyes narrowed disdainfully. His body had erupted into full body shakes, and for a moment he could hear Mays voice ringing out. He ignored it.

“To the world, to their boss, it’s always fucking fake somehow!” he hissed, “and then I fuck it up!” his voice rose hysterically, “I ALWAYS fuck it up! ALWAYS, everyone I know is either dead or gone because of me; I’m not fucking this up as well!” with one last shout, he spun around, catching one last glance at Tony’s absolutely wrecked face, before leaping off the building and swinging away, leaving anything he said to the whistling wind.

 

* * *

 

 

Peter collapsed in an alleyway nearby, ripping his mask off desperately as he gasped for breath.

“Oh god” he gasped out, “May- May I-I-I screwed it up- I-I, oh fuck!“

“Peter, just breath, its okay, everything will be okay” May reassured, voice soft and sad.

“No! It won’t, it… it won’t, and I screwed it all up!” He was shaking, full body shivers running up and down his spine. Leaning his head against the wall, he crouched behind the dumpster, hands in his hair squeezing the strands until a semblance of pain shot through him. Tears streaming down his face he continued to gasp for breath, May whispering comforting words in his ear.

“Breathe Peter, breathe” she whispered slowly, breathing audibly in his ear, slowly and precise. He followed, unable to gather his thoughts enough to do anything else. His quick panicking breaths slowly levelled out, matching the slow breathing of his AI. His mind still in shambles, but slowly coming together, he let out a watery chuckle.

“So, so glad that I programmed you to breathe when you need to” he chuckled, a sad smile crossing his face.

Letting out a sigh of relief, “me too Peter” she murmured, “it’s time to go home now anyway, you have school tomorrow-“

A blaring alarm cut her off, followed by the sound of shattering glass. He shot up, ignoring the fact his world spun at the sudden movement he quickly shoved his mask back on.

“Peter” May scolded, “Peter the police can take care of it, you should go home”

“Just this last one” peter murmured softly, “then I’ll go to bed, alright?”

“fine” May sighed, “and you go to school tomorrow”

He cheered halfheartedly before taking off, launching himself onto the rooftops, swinging towards the shrill alarm. He skidded to a halt in front of a bank, windows broken and police already close by. He spun around, looking for the perpetrators with narrowed eyes, “May scan the area, I cant let them get away”

After a hum of affirmation, he swung up onto the rooftop nearby, scanning the area better from a birds eye view.

“Peter my scans are picking up a figure about a block north of you, running on the rooftops”

“That’s them then” he shot off like a bullet, leaping across the gaps like it was nothing as he chased after the criminal. Soon enough he caught sight of the figure, and to his surprise, they were also leaping buildings like stepping stones. He sped up, using two buildings to slingshot himself even faster.

He caught up within seconds and as he was just about to grab them, a hand shot out lightning fast and connected with his face. pain shot through his jaw as he was sent flying to the side, hitting and rolling a few meters on the ground. Despite the pain, he shot back to his face, turning to face the now still figure.

“Oh hi Spider-man” the figure straightened up, revealing the masked face and twinkling eyes, “funny seeing you here” she adjusted her stance casually, pulling her overflowing bag behind her. By the bank notes sticking out, peter was sure she was who he was looking for.

He stood tense, noting the mocking tone in the women’s voice, “who might you be?” he called out, “another thief?”

She tapped her chin thoughtfully, “I guess so, that’s what I am huh?”

“Turn yourself in and you won’t get hurt” he warned, lowering his body threateningly.

She blinked at him, eyebrow raised, “I swore you were smarter than this Spiderman, maybe I overestimated you”

She dropped the bag with a hearty laugh, “ah well, let’s do this, i needed the exercise!”

He frowned, watching as she slid into a perfect boxer’s stance. In the moonlight, he caught sight of a glimmer of silver and he blinked in surprise, eyes coming to her right arm. It was a prosthetic, dark and mysterious, but definitely a highly advanced prosthetic. He would think it to be Stark tech if he didn’t know any better. He narrowed his eyes, perhaps this would be harder then he thought.

“May” he whispered, “scan her”

The moment the words left his mouth, the women charged. He jumped back, fist grazing his stomach as he dodged. She snarled, pushing forward again with another punch to the head. He slipped past it, but barely.

He shot out a punch of his own, hitting her square in the stomach, she grunted but half firm, grabbing his outstretched fist and ripping him off his feet, launching him over her head. Twisting mid-air, he landed just in time to dodge a kick to the head. He caught another glimpse of silver and his eyes widened, how much of her was prosthetic. He shot a hand out, grabbing her right arm and squeezing, preparing for the metal to snap like a toothpick. He just hoped it wasn’t attached to her nerves. He squeezed with all his might, but to his absolute shock, the metal creaked but nothing happened.

The women’s eyes twinkled, sensing his shock, “Like it Spidey?” she purred, flesh hand punching him clean in the face, breaking his nose instantly. He stumbled back, clutching his face with a muffled cry of pain.

“Vibranium is a wonderful thing huh~?” she sung, stalking towards him, “even superhuman can’t break it”

He was still in shock, so when his Spidey sense flared again he barely had time to dodge; he received a nick to his cheek in the process, mask ripping along the blade that had popped out of her prosthetic arm.

He froze, reaching up to cover the exposed eye, but it was too late, the thief had seen. Her eyes widened, freezing up with knife still raised to attack.

A flurry of emotions passed through her eyes, but eventually settled on anger.

“You…” she growled, lowering her knife slowly, “you… you’re a child”

Peter shook his head furiously, “No! No I’m not!”

“You are!” she snapped, “I see it in your eyes, you’re a fucking-“she threw her hands in the air, “you’re like 12!”

“17 actually” he snapped back, instantly a look of mortification crossed his face as he slapped his hand over his mouth.

Her face scrunched up beneath the mask, eyes narrowed, “That’s no better!” she hissed, stalking forward, forcing him backwards as he held up his fists to defend himself.

She lashed out, knife flying past him as his Spidey senses forced him sideways, he leapt at her, punching her square in the jaw with a hefty thud. She went with the momentum, kicking his legs out from beneath him and sending him to the ground in a heap of limbs.

He scrambled backwards, dodging the foot aimed at his stomach, and stumbled to his feet, to his horror his back hit a wall, and he was stuck. Her face was exposed now, mask below her chin as she bared her teeth. He couldn’t help but notice the large scar splitting down the left side of her face, but before he could comprehend anything a fist flashed out. No Spidey sense in sight, he froze up, panic flooding his system he screwed his eyes shut.

A hearty crack rumbled through his left ear, and his eyes flew open, coming face to face with the snarling women. His eyes drifted to the fist buried in the wall beside his head, large cracks running through the brick wall behind him. His blood couldn’t help but run cold, full body shivers erupted through him, he could have died.

She towered over him, “kid” she snarled, voice wavering momentarily, “This isn’t a fight you can win!” her eyes narrowed, “Go Home!”

He couldn’t move, stuck beneath her penetrating gaze, he felt so exposed and helpless.

When he didn’t say anything, she growled again, “don’t ruin your life chasing fantasies of greatness!”

His eyes widened, breathe stuck in his throat.

“Chasing justice will only get you killed,” for a moment, her eyes softened, “or worse”

Finally, finally she drew back, concrete falling out beneath her fist as she withdrew. He collapsed into a shivering heap, covering his bare face desperately. It was way too late now, but he felt so exposed.

She took a few steps back, staring at him for a moment before huffing and turning away.

“ _Go home_ ” she repeated one last time, and then she was gone, her and the bag of cash nowhere to be seen.

He sat against the wall helplessly, knees drawn to his chest as he tried to stop the onslaught of tears.

“Peter” Mays voice caused him to jump, “Peter would you like me to go through facial records for her?”

He paused, biting his lip as he stared at his shaking hands, then he shook his head, “no…. no ill deal with it”

When he headed home that night, he lay awake. Wallowing in the feeling of failure for hours on end.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, im not gonna lie, this is the most ive written in the spam of a couple of days. you know why this is? you guys! the comments the kudos and the bookmarks. i was estatic, i was inspired and above all, i was motivated! i've always struggled with motivation so this, this was amazing!   
> If you ever wonder if your comments are worth it, here's the sign, it is so very worth it. 
> 
> onto the chapter.  
> I've been wanting to write this scene between the thief and Spidey for a while, so i'm so glad i finally got it done. in fact I've been wanting to do it for so long i drew a scene from it! 
> 
> https://twitter.com/ArtistFlaming/status/1137631667248664576
> 
> (also yes that is my artblog, i draw more then write!)


	3. The Beginning of Good and Bad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reconciliation goes well. other things, not so much.

It was only a few weeks later; A sunny afternoon in queens and a Saturday so everyone was out and about hanging with friends and family. But here he was, sitting at a free desk at a public library, the only other occupant a frazzled college student who seemed to be high on red bull.

He played her no mind; instead he stared blankly at the ceiling, stomach churning uncomfortably. It’s been like that a lot lately, sick to his stomach as the guilt consumed him. Anything that reminded him of Stark sent another wave of nausea through his system, and whenever May brought it up he shut her down quickly.

But he was getting sick of it, unable to escape the wretched cycle he made of himself. With a sigh, he closed the empty word document he had open. He was supposed to be working on an assignment, but anything he tried to type came out like gibberish or uninspired slob. He groaned, rolling his head to glance around the library again.

“Hey May?” he whispered, “should I try digging up some info on that thief today?”

“Perhaps” May hummed, “but I would prefer you working on your assignment”

If she had a face she definitely would have raised an eyebrow expectedly. He chuckled lowly, tapping absentmindedly on his keyboard, “can’t think, hacking will keep me occupied”

“So you don’t want me to do it?” she asked, “that’s unusual”

“I need to brush up on my skills every once in a while you know” he pointed out with a huff, “I haven’t actually done software in a while, it’s mostly hardware at the moment”

“That’s fair” she hummed, “I suggest finding criminal records first”

“That’s right!” he exclaimed, “she seemed quite talented for a thief; she must have some sort of history!”

Nodding to himself, he got to work, opening the program before rapidly typing out the code, “oh by the way May, I’ll need a picture for the criminal records, can you upload it to my laptop”

“Of course peter” she agreed fondly.

Focused on the task at hand, he didn’t reply, sticking his tongue out from between his teeth unconsciously.  Within a few moments he was in, and he let out a quiet cheer.

“Still got it!”

“Nice work Peter” May chuckled, “the picture is in your downloads”

“Thanks May”

Uploading the file to the site, he hummed thoughtfully as it loaded.

“What do you think she’s done?” he questioned, leaning back in his chair to look at the ceiling, “probably a few heists right?”

“Perhaps” May considered, “or maybe she was never caught”

He blinked, considering it for a moment, “good point, she was pretty sneaky after all”

“We shall see” May hummed, a few seconds before the loading finished. Peter blinked in surprise at the screen.

“No match?” leaning forward he tilted his head thoughtfully, “guess she wasn’t caught”

“Seems so Peter” May agreed, “Perhaps public records will have her in it”

“Hopefully”

Swiftly hacking into the records, he hummed as the loading began again, it was quicker this time, and much to his surprise a few popped up almost instantly.

Humming thoughtfully, he tilted his head as he scanned the information, “that’s strange” he muttered.

The information was lacking, but it was something.

“Itzel Scott huh?” May wondered, “a graduate from MIT?”

“Oh” he mouthed, surprise coating his features, “maybe she created the prosthetics then?”

“Maybe” May pondered, “but that doesn’t explain how she obtained the Vibranium”

“I was thinking she stole it” He pointed out.

“Perhaps” she hummed, but didn’t say anything else. Peter scrolled through the information thoughtfully.

“There’s not much here actually” he noted, “actually, there’s barely anything, all it really says is that she’s a 28 year old women called Itzel Scott and she’s a Canadian immigrant”

“That’s unusual” May muttered, “perhaps someone deleted it?”

“She graduated from MIT” Peter pointed out, “she probably hacked into it, I think”

“That’s impressive” the AI commented, “It doesn’t even have a current address actually”

“I’m pretty sure that’s illegal” Peter frowned, “how will I find her then?”

“Maybe we don’t, Maybe she finds us”

Frown persisting, Peter glanced up at the clock at the wall. With a small groan at the time, he packed up, 7pm wasn’t that late, but he had patrol tomorrow so he wanted an early night. The thought of going home though made his stomach lurch. Swallowing the nausea, he slipped his laptop into his backpack and slid it onto his shoulders. Making sure his earplugs were in and his phone was safe in his pocket.

Ignoring the now passed out college student in the corner; he headed out, heading to the subway nearby.

“May” he muttered softly, “May I-“ he choked up slightly, the knife in his stomach twisting uncomfortably the closer he got to the subway “I don’t wanna go home”

“I know Peter” she murmured, but at a loss for words, she stayed silent.

With dread pooling in his stomach, he hopped onto the subway, the late night crowd filling the subway and pushing his small form around. Biting his lip, he stayed still as the subway took off and he glanced at the map on the wall. It was only a few stops. He swallowed his panic. He could deal with this.

His Spidey sense tingled and he tensed up, gaze snapping up to scan the crowded train.

They stopped on a young teen, about his age, standing tensely while holding onto the handles hanging from the ceiling. At first, nothing seemed amiss, then he caught the tears in her eyes and the man standing behind her, too close, and then he understood.

Mustering up the courage through her tearful face, he squeezed through the crowd, muttering apologises as he went. Peter, instead of punching the daylights out of the man like he wanted to, slipped in between the two. His small form made it easy to do so, and the man’s face twisted into disappointment before he backed off, hand withdrawing. But he was still pressed close to Peter due to the crowded cart. He flinched at the people as they pressed in on all sides, sending shivers up his spine.

When he glanced up, he was surprised to find the girl now staring at him, gratitude shining in her eyes beside the tears. She mouthed a quick ‘thank you’ before looking back at the floor.

His heart ached at the sight, and for a split second a small smile graced his face. But then someone shifted and he was just reminded of the strangers pressing in on all sides. His stomach lurched and he screwed his eyes shut, praying that his stop came soon.

Despite it only being 5 minutes before his stop came, it felt like hours to him, clutching his bag strap desperately as he fought down the panic attack. The moment the cart stopped, he pushed through the crowd and leapt onto the concrete. With a relieved sigh, he adjusted his earplugs before heading off down the street.

The moment he stood in front of his house, he winced. There was a distinct smell of alcohol in the air. Without his spider powers he probably wouldn’t have smelt it from here, but he was glad he did; that meant he had time to prepare himself. For his father was for sure home from work.

Staring up at the looming house, he shuffled his feet nervously.

“May” he whispered, “maybe I should go sleep somewhere else?”

“Peter” she sighed, “Peter, there isn’t anywhere else; all the homeless shelters are full”

Peter bit his lip, nodding slowly as he sucked in a deep breath, mustering the courage to enter.

With one last glance around, he approached the door, noticing it was unlocked before opening it up.

He glanced around cautiously, Spidey sense running up and down his spine and sending him onto his toes. Forcing it to the back of his mind, he crept in, death grip on his bag as he headed down the hall to his room. As he passed his foster parents room, he froze up, another wave of Spidey sense overcoming him. The door was open.

Despite the onslaught of danger he picked up, he peeked in, fists clenched and spine taught with fear.

Much to his relief, his foster father was passed out on their bed, bottles of alcohol scattered around the room. The TV was playing a sports channel but Peter was much too afraid to step in and turn it off, so instead he backed up, tip toeing towards his room quietly. The moment he made it up into the attic, he let out an audible sigh of relief.

Quietly he shrugged off his bag and placed it softly on the ground next to this bed.

“May” he whispered, knowing that if he were too loud he would wake the alcoholic downstairs, “I’m going to head to bed”

“Peter, you forgot about dinner” she scolded, worry thick in her voice.

“Can’t go downstairs” he said simply, eyes on the floor as he sat down on the side of his mattress.

She sighed, “Before you go to bed, I suggest figuring out what you are doing tomorrow”

He frowned, pulling out his phone and placing it beside him as he lay down, once he was comfortable he replied, “why?”

“Because its time you stop wallowing in guilt about what happened with Mr Stark”

He winced, screwing his eyes shut for a moment as he groaned, “Maaay, no, can we not talk about this-“

“Peter” she interrupted, “You’ve been avoiding this for what, 2 weeks? It’s time we talked about it”

“It’s not like there anything to talk about” he muttered, pulling a face, “I’m just a horrible person that’s all”

Another sigh came from the phone, “No you’re not, you just panicked, and everyone has done that in some point in their life”

“Bet Iron Man hasn’t” Peter grumbled, “Or Captain America”

“I bet you they 100% have” she snarked, “besides, I’m sure he understands, he seems awfully familiar with the topic he broached last time you saw him”

Eyes widening, Peter sat up to stare at the phone, “what are you implying??” his voice trembled.

“Perhaps he has an idea on what you’re going through?” she hinted, voice soft.

He shook his head, “May you can’t just psychoanalyse him and assume things like that” he scolded, but his eyes held a faraway look to them as he considered it.

“Well too late now”

Peter frowned, “well what do you expect me to do? It’s not like I can call him down from the rooftops, he doesn’t visit queens that often!”

“That’s why” May declared, pulling something up on his phone, “you will be finding him!”

He leaned over to look at the screen, tilting his head as he examined the image.

“Where does this map lead to May?” he prodded, suspicion lacing his words, “please tell me it’s not what I think it is”

May let out a robotic whistle, confirming his suspicions instantly.

He groaned, dropping the phone to cover his face, “did you hack into his servers? Really? I told you not to!”

“Hey!” May protested, “don’t you get mad at me mister ‘I don’t wanna talk about it’, I had to improvise!”

With another exaggerated groan, he flopped back down, “how do I explain how I found him then?”

“Just say the truth, your rebellious AI tracked you down so you can get off your arse and reconcile!”

Scrunching his face indignantly, he huffed, “Fine then, ill blame you!”

“So tomorrow you’re going to go find him?”

“Nooo” he whined, throwing his arm over his face, “I’m not ready”

“You will never be ‘ready’ Peter” she pointed out sarcastically.

“Touché, so on the agenda tomorrow; search for this Itzel Scott person, Scrounge up some cheap metal and-“

“And reconcile with Tony Stark”

He rolled his eyes at Mays Interruption, “ugh, fine, I’ll do that too, but no guarantees if I get distracted!”

May huffed, “you better not” she warned light heartedly.

With a small chuckle, he closed his eyes, “sure sure May” he waved her off, “I’m going to sleep, can you read me the weather?”

She hummed  “sure…“

So there he lay, eyes closed but not asleep as he listened to May ramble about the oncoming weeks weather patterns. But despite how this usually worked, He found the low hum of his Spidey sense kept in on edge. He opened his eyes for a moment to glare at the ceiling in frustration. This was going to be a long night.

* * *

 

And it was, just like the past couple of weeks, he barely got a wink of sleep, perhaps an hour at most. But that wasn’t why he found himself bent over the toilet, vomiting up the bile into the bowl.

Screwing his eyes shut, he tried to stop the onslaught of tears running down his cheeks. His whole body was trembling and his throat and wrists ached horribly. Gagging again, he clenched his fists against the porcelain, wincing when he caught a glimpse of the fresh hand shape bruises now rising on his skin.

The taste of alcohol was even worse than the smell of it.

Shaking horribly, his stomach lurched as he recalled the feeling of the tip of the alcohol bottle forced passed his lips. Vomiting again, he cried out pitifully as the taste of vodka mixed horribly with salty tears and stomach bile. There was definitely no way he was eating after this.

Trying to stifle down another gag, he glanced at the phone by his side, his earplugs were out so May couldn’t speak, but she was flashing different colours to let him know she wanted to say something to him.

He shakily grabbed the earphones, placing on in his ear half-heartedly before clenched fists flashed in his mind and he doubled over the bowl again with a gag.

“Peter” May whispered, causing him to flinch, everything was sensitive, even his hearing.

She lowered her voice again, “Peter sweetie, He’s gone now” she comforted softly.

He nodded, lip wobbling as he tried to muster the energy to reply. He already knew his foster father was gone, his Spidey sense stopped going off the moment he was out the door.

Slumped over the cold tiles, he sat shivering as his nausea slowly but surely resided until it was just a low hum in the back of his stomach.

“May” he rasped, “Do I have…have to get up…?” his voice quivered as he fought back another wave of tears.

“Oh Peter” she whispered, “you don’t have to, perhaps you should have a day off?”

He shook his head, vision spinning when he did, “I… I gotta talk to Mr Stark remember?”

She sighed, “that’s true, well rest up for now, when you feel better we can head out. How’s that sound?”

He nodded, letting out a relieved sigh as he leant his sweaty forehead against the cool porcelain.

It didn’t take too long before he was up and ready again, grabbing his forgotten backpack in the corner and heading out. He felt, and looked like shit, so he made sure to bring one of his soft hoodies and pulled the hood up to cover his face.

“Shall we speak to Mr Stark first May?” he whispered, glancing around to locate a suitable alley to change in.

“Perhaps, it would be good to get that guilt off your mind” she teased.

“jee thanks for the reminder” he snarked, but agreed anyway.

Changing swiftly in an alleyway and plugging his earpiece in, he found himself surveying the area on a nearby apartment block rooftop.

“May, pull up the map from yesterday, time to find ourselves an Ironman”

A map was pulled up in his vision, and for a moment he studied it as he tried to get his whereabouts, then he narrowed his eyes, “why is he so far out from the city? what’s so interesting about the middle of a forest?”

“According to records, there is a Stark industries warehouse out there, though I suspect otherwise” May informed simply.

“Why do you suspect otherwise?” Peter questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“He seems to go there regularly, so it might be another lab of sorts”

He hummed in agreement, “perhaps, well we might as well start now, that’s quite a long swing”

“Would you like some music for the journey?”

“Of course, play me some tunes!”

* * *

 

The trip was boring, so boring in fact Peter started bellowing out his own rendition of the music he was listening to halfway through, scaring a few deer and a couple hikers on the way. When he finally caught sight of a building through the trees he cheered, sling-shotting himself into the air to get a higher view of the area.

He blinked in surprise, falling back among the trees as he slowed down on the edge of the forest, “Uh May?”

The music stopped and May spoke up, “yes Peter?”

“It seems you were right, it’s not a warehouse”

As he stared out at the buildings, he couldn’t help but feel a bit awkward, “seems we stumbled upon ourselves an Avengers Base”

Scanning the area, he took note of the expensive cars out front and the empty helicopter pad. Biting his lip, he glanced at the map, “hey can you zoom in anymore? Like what room is he in exactly?”

“I can’t Peter” May admitted, “but I can hack into the-“

“Oh god no, please don’t, I don’t want to get into any trouble!”

There was a moment of silence then May spoke up again, “too late, he’s in a room on the side near you, there’s a window you can sneak in through”

He groaned, “god May you’re going to kill me one day”

She just laughed robotically in reply.

Finding the window was easy from there, but when he was about to open it, he froze up, panic flooding his system for a moment.

“Peter” May whispered, “its okay, just go for it!”

“But what if he doesn’t want me here, what if he hates me?” he muttered, clutching onto the glass as he stared at his reflection.

“The chances of that are pretty lo-“

She was cut off as the window next to him slid open, causing him to jump and let out an undignified screech.

The one and only Tony Stark popped his head out, a humoured grin on his face. “Well would you look who rocked up” he greeted, saluting awkwardly, “now I’ve had birds, bats and all in between hitting this window but I never thought a spider would end up here as well!”

He chuckled at his own joke, but Peter noticed the tense way he was gripping the edge and the way the billionaire’s eyes flickered around nervously.

“uM” peter winced as his voice cracked, “can I come in?”

Tony blinked, considering for a moment before shrugging and moving back inside, leaving the window open for Spidey to crawl through, “do what you want kid”

Relieved to have his feet on the ground for this conversation, Peter straightened himself up, eyes drifting to the lab around him. It was covered in unfinished projects and blueprints, holograms were hanging in the air and featuring what looked like Iron Man armour.

His gaze snapped back to Tony when the billionaire cleared his throat awkwardly.

Peter opened his mouth to start when-

“I’m so-“ “fucking Sorry!”

Tony said the same thing he did. They both stared at each other for a moment in surprise before Tony spoke up again.

“Wait a minute why are YOU apologising?” Stark spluttered, “I’m the one who prodded too much! I should have just left you alone and-“

“I yelled at you!” peter interrupted, voice trembling, “I said such horrible things, like the publicity stunt thing and the-the” he gestured to himself unable to find the words, “I’M the one who should be apologising, there’s no excuse for the things I said to you”

Tony stared at him, a flurry of emotions crossing his face before he let out a shaky sigh and leaned on his desk.

“Kid” he started, hesitating momentarily, “Kid holy shit you are a saint, you don’t need to apologise, you-” he paused, thinking over his words, “You blowing up is a completely normal reaction!”

“A horrible reaction really” Peter muttered. Tony shot him a look before continuing.

“Look kid, I’m not mad, I’m just worried, which” he chuckled slightly, “you should be proud of, it takes a lot to make me worried”

Spiderman stared at the ground, not wanting to make eye contact, “I still think I should be the one apologising though”

Stark sighed, “Well I appreciate it then, but you have no need to alright kid?”

Peter nodded, wanting to change the topic now that that was out of the way. He eyed the lab curiously, “What’cha working on anyway?”

Tony let out an exaggerated groan, rolling his head back as he gestured to his work-space, “trying to make a Nano bot Drone for missions” he shot a glare at the small machine on the desk, “But I can’t figure out how to get the Nano bots to come together without a Hub!”

He threw his hands in the air, “I need it to be able to turn into ONLY Nano bots at a moment’s notice! But once they disperse they can’t go back together again!”

Cocking his head, Spider-man leaned over to examine the machine, at the moment the Nano bots were together in a form that resembled a drone with a camera lens at the front. With a thoughtful hum, Peter tapped his chin, “Why not make every separate Nano bot controllable?”

Tony huffed, crossing his arms, “there are millions of them in this single drone, no way any human would be able to control that many at once, let alone get them to form shapes”

“So get an AI to do it?” Peter glanced up at Tony, eyebrow high in confusion, “who says it has to be Human?”

Stark stared at him for a moment, mouth open and wide-eyed.

“U-Uh I mean-“Peter stuttered, quickly backtracking.

“Holy shit it’s that simple!” The billionaire threw his hands in the air, “I’ve been trying to figure this out for the past 30 hours and you do it in like 30 seconds!”

He spun around to point at peter, “either you are incredibly smart or I am off my game today!”

“O-or” Peter attempted a chuckle, “Or you were working on it for so long you needed some fresh eyes to figure it out?”

Nodding in agreement, Stark sat down at his desk, “yea lets go with that, though I gotta ask” he picked up and pointed a wrench at Spiderman, “what’s your IQ?”

“I haven’t tested it actually” Peter admitted, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

“Well what collage do you go to?”

“Can’t say Mr Stark”

Tony huffed, looking put off, “well you built my nanotech, so that’s got to mean something right?”

“And your holograms, Stark Phone and various elements of your suit”

Tony chuckled, “well it’d be nice to hang out with someone of my intelligence” he flipped his non-existent hair for emphasis, “so why don’t you come help me with this? If you’re not busy of course”

Humming thoughtfully, Peter tilted his head, “I guess I could stay, but I gotta do some digging on a case I’m working on currently so as long as you let me do that…”

“That’s fine kid” Tony waved him off, “do What’cha want, just let me know if you need anything”

“Sure thing Mr Stark”

“Just call me Tony, SpiderKid, you’re making me feel old”

“Aren’t you like 50 or something-“

“UM excuse me! I’m still in my 40’s, thank you very much!”

Waltzing over to have a quick look at the Tech Stark was working on, Peter slid into a spare seat nearby.

“I need to do some calibrating n stuff for my web shooter, so don’t mind me if I just sit here staring at my arm as I talk to myself”

Tony chuckled, “that’s how my day usually goes as well, todays an exception tho”

“Fun for me” Peter rolled his eyes, “means I’m the only crazy one here”

Tony just laughed absentmindedly, concentrating on his project too hard to reply.

Shrugging, Peter turned to his web shooter, eyeing the warped metal thoughtfully with a hum.

“May, how’s the search for metal going? Any updates?” He asked, voice quieting as to not disturb the billionaire nearby.

“Nothing yet Peter, The cheapest stuff is still out of our budget sadly, though there was a nearby offer online that sold too fast for me to let you know”

With a sigh, Peter nodded, “so no upgrade yet, well might as well figure out how to enlarge the canister huh?”

“sounds like a good idea Peter” May agreed, “I also suggest making some more web fluid soon, we’re running low”

Pursing his lips, Peter eyed his arm as the holograms visible only through his mask twisted around him. Observing the numbers and whispering commands as he fixed the ones he found wrong.

He was getting through it fast enough, but suddenly he heard a small sniff behind him.

Glancing back at tony, who was looking around in confusion, Peter raised an eyebrow at that, “you sick?”

Looking sheepish, Tony shook his head, “No” He paused, face suddenly making an unreadable expression for a second, before clearing into something akin to amusement, “Though I could be coming down with something… who knows”

“Maybe all those late night flights are getting to ya?” Peter offered, turning back to his project. Tony couldn’t see, but Peter was watching him out of the corner of his eyes, watching as his face instantly fell the moment the teen wasn’t watching.

Something was up.

He tried to continue the calibrations, but the gaze of Stark was boring into the back of his head, making him stutter as he used said his voice commands.

Swallowing down the rising anxiety, he reminded himself that his Spidey sense was NOT going off, which meant everything was okay, it was fine.

everything was okay.

“Are you drunk?”

His head snapped up, a full body flinch slamming through his body as he made eye contact with the now horrified looking Tony.

“Ah Shit!” Stark exclaimed, “I didn’t mean to say that, sorry!”

A look of extreme guilt passed over his gaze, as he avoided eye contact with the spider in the room.

“Forget I said anything”

Despite the choking lump in his throat, Peter managed to speak, “I…I’m not-I’m Not” he rasped, “What makes you think-What gives you that idea?”

He was trying his best to ignore the swirling vortex threatening to swallow him whole, but the nausea that was rising up for the second time today was making it hard.

Tony didn’t reply for a moment, staring at the project as he seemed to recollect his thoughts, “I… I smell alcohol on you”

“Not Mine” was all Peter could say, swallowing back the bile in his throat.

Tony stared at him, nodding slowly before turning back to his project, “you don’t have to tell me”

“I’m Sorry”

“Don’t apologise, it’s not your fault”

“I’m tired”

“I know kid, I know, it’s okay”

“I don’t want- I don’t wanna go home”

Tony paused, sucking in a deep breath before turning back to the kid, reaching into his desk and chucking a device at him, a small robot by the looks of it.

“Here, it needs some repairs, the joints aren’t working properly and the voice is a bit off, give it a go”

Peter looked up at him, tears hidden behind his mask as he nodded, glancing around for a screwdriver.

Noticing this, Tony pointed to the side, where a toolbox with his name on it stood, “everything you’ll need is in there, but if you happen to need something else just let me know”

Nodding again, Peter grabbed a small red screwdriver, pausing when he realised the kit was completely ironman themed. Letting out a wet chuckle, he sucked in a breath to choke back the sobs. Instead of letting go, he got to work, screw driving the back as he observed the problems, mind filled with numbers and solutions, pushing back the everlasting sadness.

Before he knew it, the setting sun hitting his face through the window, and when he glanced up, the clock in the corner of Stark's hologram was blinking a stark 5:30pm.

“May” He whispered harshly, “why didn’t you let me know the time?”

A innocent robotic whistle met his question, “you were having fun, I didn’t want to interrupt”

blinking in surprise, he raised his head, noting the lack of tears and the lack of anxiety in his stomach. as soon as he noticed it though, a onslaught of darkness filled him, he shook off its tendrils, instead turning away from the project towards Stark.

The billionaire was still intensely stuck into his own project, tongue stuck between lips as he worked on a particular difficult equation. Biting his own giggle back, Peter clears his throat, causing Tony to jump with a muffled yelp.

“Jesus Christ Kid!” he gripped his chest dramatically; “I forgot you were there!”

“Wow” Peter crossed his arms, Pouting slightly, “I’m that forgettable ey? Wow, I thought the bright red and blue suit would do the trick for people remembering me”

Tony rolled his eyes, “it’s a bit of an eyesore kid, not gonna lie, a bit violently American don’t you think?”

“Says you!” Peter pointed at him, “almost all your suits are bright red and gold, and I swear you got at least ONE American style suit!”

“You cant prove that in any way that matters”

“Don’t go quoting tumblr on me now!”

“tum… what?” Tony’s eyebrow rose, “What in god’s name are you talking about now?”

“Oh god” Peter groaned, “I just remembering you’re an old man, never mind then” he rolled his eyes as he stood up, placing the robot to the side for tony to look at later.

Tony, getting the hint, spun his chair around, “You heading off then kid?”

“Yea” Peter shrugged. “gotta get home in time for patrol n stuff”

Tony raised an eyebrow, “don’t you have a bedtime spider-kid?”

“very funny mr Stark” Peter shrugged, “and it doesn’t matter anyway”

Tony watched him for a moment, before turning back to his project, “do you need a ride to the city kid?”

“Nah” Peter chuckled, “the big trees are great to swing through”

“Sounds fun” Tony wondered, “Perhaps I should make something like it”

“Hey!” Peter exclaimed, “don’t steal my ideas!”

“You literally stole my holograms!”

“They’re public information! You allowed me to!”

Pouting, Tony waved him off, “just get going kid, you gonna come visit soon and finish off this robot?”

Peter paused, “I did finish it…”

Tony blinked, turning to look at said robot, “oh, well nice work kid, but I do have some other stuff you can come work on if you want”

Not expecting that, peters eyes widened, glancing around at the lab, “you… are you sure? You don’t even know me-“

Waving him off again, Tony smiled, “you’re a good kid, I trust you, besides I could do with an assistant around here, it gets boring with only Friday to keep me company”

Taking a moment to take in his warm and opening face, Peter sucked in a breath, “S-Sure Mr Stark, ill drop by soon I guess”

He headed for the window, waving goodbye to the billionaire, “Thanks for everything Mr Stark!”

Tony grinned, “Seeya around kid, Stay safe alright?”

“Will do” Peter lied, ignoring the bitter feeling in his stomach as he said those words.

Sliding the window open he did one last salute before jumping off, swinging off into the forest.

 

* * *

 

 

The trip, though fun, was filled with a deep seated fear of what was to come, May said nothing, letting him distract himself with songs and tunes. he first found his backpack again, changing into his ratty hoodie and shorts that he always kept in his bag. much to his relief, nothing was missing, and the walk between here and home was short.

When his house came into view, he gripped his backpack tighter and his head dropped to avoid anyone's prying gaze. he approached the door, pulling out his keys and going to put them in to open the door.

But nothing happened. 

He froze up, hands staring to shake as he tried to push his keys in again, but they stopped halfway through and refused to go in further.

"Peter" May whispered softly, having figured it out already.

He shook his head, urging her to be quiet as his breathing came up short and he tried over and over to turn the key.

His throat closed up, and a choked sound of panic left him as he turned to hard, snapping the key in half.

He dropped the piece in his hand; shoulders slumping as a full body shiver found him.

"Peter, there's a homeless shelter nearby, maybe you should head there?" May's voice was soft and kind and familiar, but did nothing to keep away the oncoming feeling of nothingness that was threatening to take a hold of him.

He went through the motions of listening to her, eyes tearing away from the building that was once his home, and meeting the cracks of the pavement as he followed her soft directions.

The word homeless was echoing in his head, and his world was turned on its axis, he couldn't think, he found it difficult to breath.

Mays voice was the only thing keeping him from breaking down on the pavement. Though the alternative wasn't that much better, dissociating from this world as he let May instruct his body to safety.

They were heading further into the city, where the night life was starting to pick up as the sun finally set, the smog covering the stars and the moon barely shining through.

He was slowly getting his thoughts back, his mind returning to his body the closer to their destination he got.

When May's instructions finally registered to him, he let out a shaky breath, following them again, but this time speaking up softly, "May" his voice rasped, and tears welled in his eyes at the sound, "May I’m scared"

The AI stayed silent for a moment, letting the sounds of the city comfort him for a moment, "I know Peter" she murmured, "This place will be safe for you, I promise"

"Okay... Okay" he repeated, fiddling with the strap of his bag as the destination came into view. It was a large building, unassuming and normal. You wouldn't know what it was unless you searched for it yourself beforehand.

As he approached, he took note of the 2 volunteers at the entrance, talking to the people lining up in-front of it. One was handing out a paper to one line, the other writing down something in a clipboard at the second line.

Tilting his head, he tried to catch a glimpse of the paper, but from this angle it was pretty much impossible.

"I think the line on the left is newcomers Peter" May informed, “go line up alright?"

He wanted to say no, oh boy did he want to, but his legs worked for themselves and took him forward until he was standing behind an old man in the respective line. the person in-front of him eyed him for a moment, before turning away as if making a point he was minding his own business.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets, and avoiding prying gazes, only making an effort to try and catch a glimpse of the paper they were handing out.

a steps forward in the line, and he finally saw it. he froze up instantly, a wash of panic sending Goosebumps through his system.

"May" he whispered, voice excessively low, "May they need details"

"details?" May questioned, "you mean like your name?"

"No" Peter hissed, screwing his eyes shut, "everything! Like my age, my f-family, my history, everything!"

Swallowing a onslaught of tears, he turned away stiffly, stalking out of the line and away from the building.

"Peter! Peter is okay, it'll be safe there, and you’ll get food, you-"

"i cant!" he choked out, hands shaking as he reached up to unzip his jumper, finding it hard to breath.

"I-I'm Spider-man, i cant- They'll find out who I am- they’ll throw me in... in prison or even-"

"Peter" May exclaimed, cutting him off, "that's rubbish peter, you're just a kid, they won’t hurt you like that"

"I Can't... I can't do it May, they won’t let me leave to do patrol or anything, I’ll be trapped"

"It’s safe"

"From what? The cold? I can protect... I can protect myself May, I can protect others" he gestured around, flinching when someone across the road gave him a weird look. Instead he lowered his voice, voice hoarse with suppressed emotions, "It's Better this way"

"Where do you expect to go Peter?" she asked, voice high pitched with an emotion he was sure he didn’t program in her, "there's a homeless shelter across the city you can-"

"Find me an abandoned building May" he cut her off stiffly, an awkward silence filling the air a moment later.

She stayed silent, before she sighed, "okay Peter" and that was that.

Her instructions to the place she now found was short, and other then a few sounds that sounded like sighs, she said nothing else.

He stayed quiet as well, mind filling with anxiety and solutions to problems he shouldn't have to deal with. But this was for the better. He knew this. This was the only option.

The building she picked out was small, a rusty bookstore sign swinging in front of the planked up door.

He glanced up at it, before scanning the area, taking note of the lack of people and the amount of closed down shops and cracking buildings.

"Where is this?" he asked.

"An old commercial block, it got ruined after the Chitauri invasion a few years back and never fully recovered" May explained, "not many people visit here anymore"

He glanced back at the chosen building, "I’m assuming there's another way in?"

May sighed, "There is a skylight on top of the building, the last bit of footage from security cameras in the area before it was abandoned showed it to be left open"

Peter nodded, checking his surroundings before swiftly scaling the wall and climbing onto the rooftop. 

There was a whole lot of rubble and glass, but it was easy to find said entrance, cracked and chipped away from lack of care. There was a gap where he could slip in easily even with his backpack on his back. So he did so, landing on the floor with a loud thud.

He froze up, scanning the dark and dusty room cautiously.

"There may be animals in here Peter" May warned. He didn’t reply, instead listening intently for any movement in the place.

After a moments silence, he relaxed, "there's a pigeon nest near the window in the alleyway, but that's it'

He walked up to have a look around the store, taking note of the scattered and ripped books and decorations that were left here. It was mostly empty of furniture save for a few bookshelves and a reception desk. Speaking of which, he headed over there now, peaking behind the desk to inspect it.

Almost immediately he was hit by a wave of dust, and he flinched back, sneezing horribly on the onslaught, "ugh" he groaned, "thank god I don't have allergies anymore"

But he had to rule that spot out anyway, backing away and instead finding a small side room which must have been the kids’ corner back when this was an active bookstore. the carpet was bright red and soft mostly, and the walls had cracked painted puzzle pieces scattered around.

Though it still had dust, it wasn’t as overwhelming as before, so he through his backpack down on the carpet and laid down with it as a pillow, moving it around to avoid the bumpy bits as he got comfortable.

After a moment of silence, he pulled out his phone, checking the battery nervously.

**_12%_ **

He sucked in a shaky breath, trying to comfort himself with the thought that his battery was better than most, and this would last at least another day. But even with that in mind, he couldn't help but bite his lip as he tried to figure out where he could even charge his phone. With a sigh, he leaned his head back against the backpack.

"May, what am i going to do" he asked helplessly, shoving back the tears threatening to rise up.

May stays silent for another moment before speaking up softly, "I’ll have a look for more places to stay, and ill locate some cheap food places in the area"

"There's always that sandwich place!" he pointed out with a wet chuckle.

"There is" she chuckled, before sobering up a moment later, "and I suggest trying to get your stuff back from the attic"

He stiffened, voice coming out strained, "I don’t think I can get in"

"There is a small window at the back of the property you can get in through" May soothed, voice clear and determined, "you can hide it in here"

Swallowing nervously, Peter screwed his eyes shut, "I don’t want to go there again after this"

"One last time" May confirmed, "then you'll never have to see him again"

He nodded, tears rolling down his cheeks as he tried to rub them away. After failing miserably at that, he let them fall, hands falling limp on his stomach.

"Read me something?" he whispered wetly, "I need to sleep"

"Of course Peter" May replied warmly, "want me to read a science fiction novel that came out recently?"

"Yea" his voice cracked. But he closed his eyes again anyway, trying to relive the tension in his body and relax.

May cleared her throat, putting on her best reading voice, before starting.

He was out within a couple hours, not bad at all.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long my dudes! Writers block is a bich. also like, i get bouts of insperation for things and this wasnt one of them currently. BUT I FINISHED IT FINALLY AFTER GETTING A FLASH OF INSPERATION SO YAY. 
> 
> As an apology for it taking so long, heres a drawing based on the end scene in this chapter ;-; 
> 
> https://www.deviantart.com/theocsupporter/art/Peter-Parker-Homeless-815047043


	4. Change and More Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things go haywire when Peter does something selfless, as expected.

 

Despite his promise to visit soon, weeks later and he hadn’t even thought about visiting the lab at all. Patrolling and school has sapped him of all his energy, not that he had much to begin with, the lack of food and decent sleep finally getting to him. May has been hinting things left and right, with warnings popping up in suit, and links to certain websites popping up on his phone.

He didn’t have the heart to bring it up.

He practically lived at the library during the day now, charging his phone and laptop the best he could before getting kicked out. The librarians were getting sick of him, if the looks were anything to go by.

Forehead on the desk, he lay awake, awaiting the inevitable as his laptop charged beside him. The warm spot he chose in the corner has long since cooled as the sun had set.  The librarian was heading over, and the moment he made eye contact with her, he nodded, eyes immediately hitting the floor again as he started to pack up.

Unplugging his laptop he quickly eyes the percentage on his phone. 34%? That’s doable. plugging in his earphones again, he slid it into his hoodie pocket as he shoved the rest of his stuff into his backpack, making sure to angle it so it wasn’t poking out of the ripped hole in the bottom.

He really should get that fixed soon shouldn’t he?

He shrugged the backpack on, simultaneously muffling a wince as the movement aggravated his empty stomach. He bit his lip, smiling pitifully to the librarian as he passed before exiting the building.

Hit with the night chill, he shivered and pulled his jumper closer, glancing around to survey the area unconsciously.

“Hey Peter” May’s soft voice made him jump, “If you’re hungry there is a charity food van near you still active”

He nodded, but pouted half-heartedly as he headed off under her directions, “I’m not hungry” He muttered, but May just hummed robotically, obviously not buying it.

“You need some food before patrol anyway Peter” May explained, “And I’ll have a look around for gyms that would let you use their facilities”

“What?” Peter raised an eyebrow, “why? Are you telling me to work out?”

“No Peter, I have concluded that it is about time you need a shower”

Taken aback, Peter stopped walking for a moment, glancing around before taking a sniff of his armpit. Immediately recoiling he scrunched his face up.

For a moment he contemplated denying it. Then after a moments silence… he sighed, continuing to walk with his shoulders hunched. “I see your point” He grumbled, slightly red in the cheeks.

May just chuckled her own AI version of a chuckle. And the rest of the walk was quiet. There hadn’t been much talking between them lately, perhaps because the AI was holding a grudge, or perhaps because the more she talked the more often he needs to charge his phone. And it’s not like he would always have a place to charge.

When the van came into his view, he froze up momentarily at the sight of the crowd around it. Sucking in a shaky breath, he approached the van, slinking into line behind a scruffy looking Couple.

No-one payed attention to him; they were all in a world of their own. A few sketchy people we’re hanging about that sent Peters Spidey sense crawling down his spine, but the crowd made it easy to muffle the anxiety about it. No-one would try anything with this big of a crowd around. Shouldering his bag further onto his back, he pulled his hood up against the chill, scrunching up and setting his eyes firmly on the ground, avoiding eye contact with anyone.

He flinched when May suddenly spoke up, “It has been a couple of weeks since you last attended school, there’s a few tests coming up that would be good to attend”

He rolled his eyes, huffing quietly to himself, “I guess, but no point going to classes, they’re all everything I already know”

“I know Peter, Perhaps you should consider graduating early?”

Blinking in surprise, he unconsciously glanced up, talking to the AI as if she was in front of him. They shot back down immediately though, “You can do that?” He muttered, narrowing his eyes thoughtfully.

“Of course peter, would you like me to do more research on its requirements?”

“That’d be great May” he agreed, “and check if it needs… parental permission” he muttered the last words under his breath scornfully, a nauseas feeling settling in his stomach.

“I will Peter, and if it does…” she trailed off for a moment, before a scoff sounded from her, “I should be able to wrangle something up”

Peter chuckled slightly, covering his mouth in amusement, “I swear I didn’t program that May”

“Perhaps you didn’t” she teased, “I have access to the internet after all”

“Oooh” He echoed, “you been up to something?”

“No Peter” she huffed, “I have just been programmed, as per my coding, to constantly research AI Progress in the Science field via online articles and Scientific journals”

Tapping his chin, Peter hummed under his breath, “oh, I forgot about that, how’s it going?”

May just sighed, “nothing much actually, but anything of interest I did in fact download”

Frown falling onto his face, Peter bit his lip, “I don’t like you downloading random peoples coding, can you put it aside for me to look at before implementing it next time?”

“Sure Peter, But we have no power to the workbench, I do not think you’d be able to run my program in the immediate future”

He slumped, a long sigh escaping him as he shuffled forward to follow the line as he started to get closer to the front, “I know… but still…”

A sound of agreement sounded through his earbuds, before it went silent again and he was left to his thoughts.

Luckily it wasn’t long as the person in front of him was served and now he was up.

He slipped his hoodie off so he could look up at the cashier, a kind looking girl with a cute gap tooth.

She smiled at him, “What would you like sir?”

Voice shaky, he replied softly, “Uh, a burger I guess? Chicken?”

She nodded, leaning over to grab it from where it sat in the corner, she wrapped it carefully.

If it wasn’t for his hyper-vigilance, he probably wouldn’t have noticed, but the way she placed something in the bag alongside the burger was hard to ignore.

Hands shaky, he grabbed the bag, but with no Spidey sense in sight, he concluded it wasn’t anything bad.

Smiling thankfully, he clutched it to his chest as he turned away to leave. as he did, he felt her gaze on the back of his head for a few moments longer.

With a shiver running up his spine now, he slipped his hood back on and clenched his fists around his backpack strap. The paper bag in his hand crinkled slightly as he shook, the first social interaction in a while was setting his nerves on fire.

“Peter” May whisper, causing him to flinch, “Your heartrate is high, take deep breaths”

Instantly he let out a breath, unclenching his fists and breathing in deeply, and despite his still shaky body, he managed to calm his heart-rate a smidge.

“Thanks May” he breathed, “i… I just got a bit nervous is all”

“That’s fine Peter” May hummed, “are you planning on patrolling tonight?”

Having not thought about it, Peter tilted his head, “well I’m already heading home, and I.. I didn’t get any sleep last night…”

“Or the night before” May commented dryly.

He just grinned sheepishly, “Yea I feel kind of tired… New York will be fine for one night!”

Despite saying that, a dark feeling settled in his chest as he glanced around at the city goers, the night life slowly thinning out the further out he got. Yawning to himself, he hunkered down into his jumper as a cold breeze blew his hair over his face.

A moment later and May spoke up, voice suddenly serious.

“Peter why are those people running?”

His head snapped up instantly, eyeing the small amount of people on the street, and they were in fact, sprinting towards him. Passing him a moment later with a shout.

They had looks of fear on their face.

Now on high alert, he spun around to face the direction they came, “May, scan the area” He ordered, eyes scanning for anything out of the ordinary. The empty streets were silent and eerie, and he would have commented on it sarcastically if it wasn’t for the sudden spike in Spidey sense.

He leapt backward on instinct, narrowly avoiding the large furry blur that rushed by him.

Peter’s eyes widened, backing up to observe the weird creature. The first word he could use to describe it was a Boar. But this boar was as large as a rhino, and was angry. _Very angry._ Taking another step back he briefly entertained punching it, but threw that idea out when he remembered he wasn’t in his suit.

“Peter, Cameras are showing other mutated animals like this one are roaming the area, I suggest retreating until we can figure out what’s happening” May exclaimed quickly, voice shocking him out of his moment.

Nodding, his eyes didn’t leave the boar as he tried to back away quietly, trying to avoid aggravating the beast. As he did, he couldn’t help but notice the antiseptic smell coming off it, and the small mutated hoofs poking out of the bristly fur of its back. No time to think about it though, as a moment later the boar charged.

He bolted, hands swinging by his sides as he ran through the streets, skidding as he turned a corner into a smaller alleyway, a way he knew connected with another street further on. The boar hit the wall of the alleyway with a crash and a crack, rubble falling around it which it quickly shook off. It continued giving chase, and peter continued sprinting.

Out in the open air of another street, he sucked in a breath of surprise as he noticed the large piles of rubble cutting off both sides of the street. Unable to stop, he continued running, trying desperately to locate an alleyway or ladder for his escape. Coming up dry, he spun around and dodged the oncoming monster, narrowly avoiding the tusks the same size as him. He started running back the way he came, but Mays voice spoke up in a panic.

“It’s blocked off Peter! The Boar destroyed it; I’ll try and locate another way!”

“Hurry” he hissed back, breathe coming out in ragged pants of panic as he tried to muffle the onslaught of terror.

His ears were buzzing irritably, and everything seemed all too close, too detailed, and too bright, despite the darkness.

He was cornered, a large wall of rubble behind him as he tried to think up of a plan. He considered saying ‘fuck it’ and scaling the building, but he caught site of an intact camera further down pointing in his direction. The boar was facing him again now, hot breath coming out in visible waves as it prepared to charge.

He crouched, whole body tense in preparation for the attack…

Until a large beam of light hit the animal square in the side, knocking it to the side and causing it to let out an angry scream of pain.

Peters eyes shot up to the figure, realising quickly that the ringing in his ears were something more familiar.

Ironman hovered beside him, hands open and pointed at the beast as it struggled to recover, his helmet turned towards him briefly, “You okay kid?” he asked and for a moment Peters stomach sank, thinking he was recognised.

He nodded, unable to respond through the swirling thoughts.

Ironman nodded, “well get to safety kid, there’s a small path through the rubble back their” he pointed his head behind him at the wall of rubble, which did in fact have an easy escape path.

Ears burning, Peter nodded again, taking a few steps back and backing off towards the exit.

The sound of burning flesh and pig squealing caused him to flinch. Ironman had obviously finished it off, as the squealing soon stopped.

Glancing back, He noticed Ironman had dropped to the ground now, hovering over the corpse of the monster, obviously distracted with talking to his AI.

Peter shook his head, amusement briefly making him chuckle as he turned away to leave.

Then his Spidey sense suddenly made his world turn dark and his body was turning.

One moment he was heading to the exit, the next he was instinctively leaping at the Billionaire with a shout, colliding with the suit hands first as he pushed the man out of the way.

Out of the way of what you ask?

Well by the giant Rhino currently colliding with his side, forcing ribs to crack and his breath to leave his lungs, he’d say that was it.

He went flying, hitting the bricks and falling through them, head bursting into a flurry of stars as it hit the concrete.

His vision was dark for several moments, and then a panicked face filled his vision as a hand gripped his shoulder.

Unable to think clearly, he thrashed, jerking his head back and crying out a garbled mess.

“whoa whoa, kid calm down, it’s me, just-“

Lashing out, peter managed to slap his outstretched hand away. Breath coming in ragged pants, his vision went white for another moment. Once he was conscious again, a hand was holding his head and the worried face of tony stark were in his vision.

“Kid? Kid stay conscious alright, stay awake”

Peter groaned, eyes fluttering shut again as his hearing filled with an indescribable ringing.

“Oh fuck, kid no-“

And he was out like a light.

 

* * *

 

He awoke slowly, bits and pieces of consciousness in which his vision was blurry and his hearing felt muffled as if he was underwater. When he finally awoke for more than a second, opening his eyes caused him to wince, the blaring lights burning through his eyelids like lasers. Groaning softly to himself, he tried to open them again, this time slowly as his vision got used to the intrusion.

The lack of headphones in his ears caused his heart to drop, and for a moment he was confused. Did he rip them out while asleep? But then it all came flooding back to him. The attack, protecting Tony, panic, then darkness…

He sat up quickly, ignoring the muscles screaming in protest he looked around wildly.

The room was small, and medical. There was a door on the side across form him, but no form of window to be seen, this didn’t seem like a normal hospital at all. A shiver ran up his spine, and he tried to spot his bag, but found nothing. A sliver of panic wormed itself into his system, and for a moment he couldn’t breathe.

His phone was gone, was it okay?

He really had no way of knowing, he took a big hit back there, but he had upgraded his phone to take hard hits. He just hadn’t tested it beyond dropping it off a few buildings.

Reaching up to clutch at the hospital gown on his chest, he sucked in a shaky breath as he tried to calm himself.

His head snapped up when his Spidey sense shot a warning through him and for a moment he was about to jump from his seat, until he realised it was just someone coming.

The door slid open, and in walked a blonde doctor, reading his clipboard carefully as he entered. As if sensing Peter’s gaze on him, the blonde glanced up.

Jumping slightly, the doctor blinked in surprise, “oh, you’re awake, sorry about that, didn’t expect you up for at least” he glanced down at his clipboard, “a week”

“A week” Peter echoed, stomach dropping, “w-what happened?”

Sighing, the doctor rubbed his temples, “You took a whole bunch of blunt force trauma to your side and head; you had a grade 3 concussion and shattered ribs on both sides”

He walked around the bed, coming to stand next to the bed beside Peter.

Despite the fact he didn’t seem bad, Peters hair raised and for a moment fear muffled his voice.

“You also broke a few fingers and your right wrist” he gestured to the bandaged hand, his right luckily, so he could still write, “lost a tooth, dislocated your shoulder and elbow, and have pretty bad bruising over your entire body”

Peter, at a loss for words, considered the collision that caused his injury’s, and concluded that he was… lucky.

“Wow” Peter breathed, eyes falling to his bandaged hands in his lap, “that’s a lot”

The blonde smiled, but there was bitterness in his eyes, “it was, how you are feeling anyway?”

The teen rolled his shoulder, wincing at the resulting pain that shot through his body, “it hurts” he offered, and the doctor nodded.

“it will hurt for a while, but you already look better than expected” he narrowed his eyes thoughtfully at his clipboard, “It’s impressive actually, with how you’re looking, I’ll have to Xray the bones and see how they’re healing, it looks as if you aren’t in as much pain as I expected”

Peter stayed silent, nervousness causing him to study his fingers to avoid the doctors scrutinising gaze.

After a moments silence, peter managed to muster up the energy to speak softly, “where am i?”

The doctor smiled awkwardly, but didn’t answer directly, instead he cleared his throat, “I tried contacting your parents uh,” he glanced down again, “Peter Parker? But they didn’t answer, is there any other number I can try other than the number listed?”

God this doctor sure knew how to make him panic. The mention of parents made him freeze, panic flooding his system as he blabbered slightly.

“u-Uh” his voice cracked, “They’re at wor…. they are at work actually, late hours and all” he tried to laugh to brush it off easier, but it caught in his throat.

“They… don’t actually have a… they don’t have a car” he explained, licking his lips nervously as his eyes flickered around, “I have a bus pass, I can go home by myself”

The doctor eyed him in disbelief, “Kid, I really would like to talk to you parents about your injury’s, and you can’t leave for another few days at least” he exclaimed, “they’ll have to come over and sign you out themselves”

“b-but they, they’re busy sir” Peter stuttered, eyes down at his hands again, “I don’t want to bother them”

“Parker I really can’t-“

Peter’s head snapped up to the door, sensing the oncoming footsteps moments before the door slid open, revealing a dishevelled billionaire.

Tony wasn’t looking all too well by the looks of it, bags under his eyes and a shaky hand wrapped around a half empty cup of coffee.

Peter opened his mouth instinctively, preparing a quip in greeting, before it snapped shut again.

He wasn’t Spiderman right now, Tony didn’t know him.

He looked back down at his hands; avoiding anyone’s gazes as he bit his tongue and stayed silent.

The billionaire watched him for a moment before gesturing vaguely to the doctor and heading over to the chair in the corner.

The doctor sighed, shaking his head and placing the clipboard on the side table, smiling softly at peter when they made eye contact for a moment. He headed off, the door closing off behind him. Tony plopped down on the spare seat, taking a swig of his coffee before eyeing the kid quietly.

It was silent, the air as suffocating as the awkwardness Peter was currently choking on. He had no idea what to say, what to think. Was Tony angry? Disappointed? Does he _Know_?

Flinching at that last thought, he clenched his teeth, the static in his stomach rising up alongside the bile.  He opened his mouth to say something-

When Tony started for him, “so Kid… why did you do it?

Peter’s gaze snapped up, confusion lining his features as he managed to make eye contact with Tony, “P-Pardon?” he stuttered.

“Why did you jump into danger for me?”

“I…” the words died on his tongue, eyes feeling strangely wet as he tried to speak again, “I… I thought it was the right thing to do”

He thought perhaps Tony didn’t hear his quiet voice for a moment as he didn’t reply, Tony’s disbelieving gaze following him intensely.

When peter didn’t elaborate, Tony managed to smile awkwardly, leaning back and avoiding his gaze.

“I would have handled it” he faltered, voice just as soft as Peters in the silence of the hospital room.

Mouth dry, Peter just nodded and continued studying his bandaged hands. The scratchy feeling of the bandages making his skin crawl and the more he noticed it; the more he wanted to scratch them off.

“Did the doctor tell you your injury’s yet?” Tony asked, shaking himself off from the awkward tension.

“Yea” Peter stated, looking up to watch the carefully crafted mask form on Tony’s face again. The previous softness was obviously too personal for him for a stranger

“Did he mention anything else?”

Peter puzzled, thinking back on their conversation before shaking his head.

“Have you been eating okay lately?”

The question blindsided him, and Peter flinched, heart thudding heavily in his chest, and unfortunately, the beeping beside him mirrored it.

Tony’s eyes flickered to the heart monitor curiously.

“I… I’ve been eating fine” Peter choked out, “I didn’t eat well last night though”

“Well according to the doctors” Tony gestured sideways, “you’re actually quiet malnourished, any health issues?”

Peter shook his head; “I’m fine” was all he could manage to say, words dying on his tongue and static filling his mind.

Oh god he needed May.

Glancing around again, he remembered his phone was nowhere in sight.

“Well, perhaps you should get yourself tested” Tony suggested helpfully, “I’ll let your parents know about it, got a number to call?”

Numbness filling his system, he couldn’t reply, instead he was continuing to scan the room, despite the obvious being right in front of his face.

His eyes settled on Tony, who was looking confused at the silence.

“where is… where’s my phone?” Peter rasped.

Tony suddenly looked a bit sheepish, “oh right, your bag is in a locker outside, but your phone it…” he looked away, “it shattered on impact sadly, I tried turning it on but it was beyond repair, I’ll replace it for you though, it’s the least I can do”

The moment the word ‘shattered’ left his lips, Peter felt static fill his mind, and he stopped breathing altogether.  One thing was on his mind and it sent a wave of panic through his system, shattering the static in a single moment.

May. Isnt. Here.

He leaned over, a low keening noise ripping itself from his throat as he clutched at his chest, tears filling his eyes as he gasped for air, only to find nothing as anything he managed to get was forced right out again.

“kid?!”

He couldn’t hear, could feel, his vision was clouding and the darkness was creeping in. the overwhelming wave of panic drowned him in his own tears as he tried to _just breathe._

Reaching up, he gripped his hair painfully, hoping to dear god that the pain would ground him, but all he succeeded in was ripping out a few strands. The beeping screamed in his ears so fast it was almost a solid sound.

A strangled cry escaped his mouth as all breath left his lungs and his arms started to weaken.

“Kid” a hand touched his arm softly, but he barely felt it, his whole body felt numb, “Kid breathe, just breath with me okay?” the voice was warm but so was everything else,  cold flushes and hot fires rushed through him and he managed to inhale another breath, but with it  wave of nausea rushed through him.

Instinctively he leaned to the side to hurl stomach bile onto the floor, sobbing around the pain as he gagged, hands clutching the bed desperately as he just wanted _ittostopohg **odmakeitstop-**_

“C-come on kid! Just breathe, it’s okay, you’re safe”

God he was gonna pass out wasn’t he, tears were still coming, and his fast breathing was not slowing down, he couldn’t see properly and all he could think of was _panic_. 

As he continued to gag, unable to throw up what he didn’t have, a hand came to rest on his back and rub circles; he couldn’t feel it at first, his skin prickling and numb and on fire all at the same time. But as he was leaned over the side of the bed, shivering and crying out, feeling slowly came back to his body.

 The hand on his back was so warm, but oh so terrifying, and every movement it did made him flinch and gag again. The hand withdrew, and oh god was he thankful at its absence, yet he missed the warmth it had brought.

The flushes were disappearing, and his heart was almost back to normal, but all it left behind was a cold shiver and an empty feeling in his stomach. His hands were weakening, and the death grip he had on the bed fell apart. He almost plunged off the bed, but an arm caught him around the waist and gently pulled him back, laying him back onto the soft pillow.

His eyes screwed shut, he reached one shaky hand up to wipe away the onslaught of tears; they still weren’t stopping though.

God he was exhausted, everything ached, and now he could feel the embarrassment slowly rising up.

“You back kid?” Tony’s voice was soft, but it still made Peter flinch. After another moment, he managed to give a weak nod. Slowly opening his eyes, he clenched his teeth as the bright lights instantly caused his headache to worsen.

Sensing the discomfort, Tony spoke up, still soft though, “FRIDAY, put the lights to 20 percent”

The relief was instant as the lights dimmed, and his body sagged as a relieved sigh left him. Now that he could see properly, he instantly noticed the absolutely wrecked look Stark gave him. Worry was coating his features and his eyebrows were drawn together in a look that Spider-man knew well. Not Peter though.

“Feeling better?” Tony whispered.

God he didn’t know how to answer that. He nodded though, despite the lie, and Tony smiled shakily. When Peter looked down to avoid his intense gaze, he found that his hands were not the only ones shaking.

“Did I…” Tony cleared his throat, shaking his head of whatever he was going to say, “I’m sorry if I said something wrong”

God he sounded so pitiful, but Peter just stared numbly at his hands, tears still falling down his cheeks.

“I can probably retrieve some data off the old phone” he offered softly, causing Peters gaze to snap up, hope filling his eyes for a moment, Tony smiled at that, “it might take a bit, but I should be able to get it”

 Peter, suddenly hyper aware of the eye contact, nodded, teary eyes averted again. He closed his eyes, body shaking as the tears rolled down his cheeks still.

Tony went silent, leg jiggling with an unknown awkwardness, before he stood up, causing the teen to flinch heavily. He must have noticed, as when he went to pat his head softly, he was a lot slower and gentler than expected.

Peter, having not had contact with someone in… god, he can’t remember how long, only sobbed harder, shaky hands coming up to cover his face.

“I have to go kid, you get some sleep alright?” Tony sighed, removing his hand after a moment before taking another swig of his abandoned coffee, now cold, but he didn’t seem to mind.  “I’ll get someone to come in to come clean the floor up” he gestured awkwardly to the smelly mess just hidden out of view. Peters ears burnt, but he didn’t reply.

Stark gives a small smile as he leaves, but the moment the door slides shut behind him, Peter sobs again. Wrapping his own arms around himself, he manages to calm the shaking in his limbs, and stop the tears staining his cheeks, but all it left behind was the void.

May was gone for now.

And that broke him.

There was no clock in this hospital room, wherever it is, but he sure as hell wouldn’t have noticed time passing even he was staring right at it.

Nothing felt real, his body felt numb despite the pain, the beeping of the monitor turning to static in the background of his silent mind. Eventually his eyes closed, but he didn’t sleep, eyes staring into the darkness that was the back of his eyelids.

Despite not hearing anything, he suddenly snapped out of it, eyes flying open and his body jerked up into a seating position. A familiar voice spoke up softly.

“Peter, its me May”

And he burst in to tears, “May, oh god, I’m so sorry!”  he cried, covering his face with his hands.

“It’s okay peter, I’m here” she replied, but they both know that that wasn’t what he was talking about.

“How-“ Peter sniffled, “how’d you hack this place, how… did you know where I am?”

“I hacked into the Stark Industry servers” May explained, voice indifferent, “and you are currently in the Avenger’s compound’s hospital, apparently Stark brought you here”

Peter paled, glancing up at the ceiling in disbelief, “oh god, how am I supposed to get out now?”

“I’m not sure Peter” May admitted, “I have limited time here talking to you, I’ll have to talk to you once you get out”

“Wait…” Peter swallowed nervously, “You’re not staying?”

“I can’t”

His gaze fell, tears welling up in his eyes, he knew this, but it still hurt to here.

“How are you feeling?” May asked softly, “your injury’s?”

“Tired mostly” he admitted, “everything aches, but it’s not… it’s nothing I’ve never felt before”

She hummed, and he continued after a moment’s thought, “How are you active right now?” he questioned, eyes suddenly widening, “is the phone-“

“The phone is gone it seems peter” May interrupted with a sigh, “I am currently running off the emergency battery on your workbench”

“Oh” he mouthed, eyes finding his bandaged hands, “you have to go then don’t you”

“Yes” she affirmed, voice sympathetic, “You’ll be fine Peter, you’re safe here”

“Doesn’t feel like it” he sighed, eyes shifty as he bit his lip, “they keep on asking how to contact my parents… I don’t know what to do…”

“I… I’m not sure; perhaps you should consider telling the truth”

“No!” his raised voice caused himself to jump and his heart to lurch, he clenched his free fist, tears running down his pale cheeks, “I can’t-“ he choked out.

“I have to go Peter” May faltered, guilt lacing her voice, “I… you can do it Peter, you’re strong, you’ll be okay, whatever happens, I’ll come back to you”

Choking on nothing, Peter managed to get out a small “I love you” as the lights flickered, a sure sign FRIDAY was catching on.

“I love you too Pete” May replied warmly, her voice awfully close yet so far away at the same time, “I’ll see you soon”

God he wish he said that last time.

And she was gone, the lights were back to normal and everything was silent.

He choked on a sob, hands covering his face as he tried to calm his breathing, his heart heavy and hollow in his aching chest.

“Sorry for interrupting Mr. Parker” FRIDAY’s voice caused him to flinch, “there seems to have been unusual activity in my servers regarding this room, has anything unusual occurred while the cameras were out?”

He looked up, biting his lip and shaking his head, “u-uh, the light flickered” he offered, but even to him it sounded pitiful.

FRIDAY didn’t respond for a moment, and when she spoke next she sounded almost dubious, “I will have to notify security regardless, they may visit you in the next couple of hours, and I will be notifying Boss as well”

He nodded, face falling at the thought of Stark finding out, but said nothing as he leaned back onto his pillow.

She must have left, as the silence that followed was almost deafening.

Though his heart was still heavy, he felt a bit better now that he talked to May. Now the exhaustion was setting in and the pillow of the hospital bed had never felt so comfortable.

He closed his eyes, briefly considering coming up with a plan, before scrapping that idea when the beginnings of sleep overtook him.

He’ll have to do it tomorrow.

 

* * *

 

When he awoke, he still felt like shit. But that was expected, as he got way more sleep then he usually got.

Eyes fluttering open, he stared up at the white ceiling blankly, the beeping of the heart monitor cutting through the silence.

A shuffling noise caused him to raise his head sharply in fright. The doctor was sat down at the desk in the corner, writing down some things on his clipboard. He was facing away from him, but when the heart-rate monitor beeped rapidly, he turned around in surprise.

“Oh, you’re awake!” he exclaimed, a small smile on his face, “sorry for scaring you, I was just doing paperwork”

Peter nodded awkwardly, eyes shifty.

“You look well” he commented, looking pleased, “the drip must be doing wonders” he gestures to the machine on the other side of the bed, which Peter had ignored previously.

“I was thinking you should have breakfast soon, and then we can both get you up to do some X-rays?”

A shot of anxiety ran through Peter’s system, the breakfast sounds nice, but the x-rays… they can’t happen.

But he nodded anyway, “what’s for breakfast?” he blurted out. He had meant to say something else, but obviously his voice just wasn’t cooperating with him today.

The Doctor just chuckled, “I’ll see what we have” he replied, already rising from his seat and heading for the door, “I’ll be back in a moment” 

For a moment when the door was open, Peter spotted a small locker across the hall from his room, it was so subtle he usually wouldn’t notice it, but his hyper-aware brain found it easy to come to conclusion that that was where his stuff must be.

The moment the door closed, Peter closed his eyes and sucked in a shaky breath, heart beating rapidly as he tried to calm his breathing.

He needed a plan.

 

* * *

 

Breakfast was quiet, just himself eating in bed as the doctor had left shortly after bring his meal. Speaking of a meal, he was surprised to find it chock full with eggs, bacon, toast and even what looks like fried vegetables. Though it looked delicious, and his stomach growled at the sight, a nauseas feeling rose up at the thought that perhaps this was all just pity; Pity for a poor little homeless child.

He ate it regardless, shovelling food in his mouth as his mind travelled elsewhere.  The beginnings of a plan were beginning to take place finally, as it was time to put it into action.

Swallowing his last bite, he glanced longingly at the empty plate, but it was for the best, as his stomach was aching horribly. Not a good sign, since it was not as much as his meals used to be.

 Placing it carefully on the side table, he swung his legs over the edge of the bed, carefully putting more weight on it, and thanking whatever god that existed that his legs weren’t as injured.  With the knowledge that he could walk fine, if a bit wobbly, he glanced around for a camera.

He spotted it in the corner of the room, making him narrow his eyes thoughtfully. There was no way he would avoid the cameras, let alone FRIDAY’s sensors. Making a run for it was the best bet.

Glancing down at himself, he grimaced at the sight. Not only was he still bandaged up and bruised horribly, he was wearing a thin hospital gown. Aka; not the best thing to wear while escaping the hospital equivalent of a high-tech prison.

Recalling the locker outside, he grabbed the butter knife on his empty plate, and approached the door cautiously, unsure if it would work.

To his surprise it slid open easily, and he peeked out cautiously to note the lack of security or even people around.

Taking advantage of this, he immediately got to work on the lock of the locker, using the butter knife at first to pick the lock. It failed miserably, as a butter knife was not a good substitute. So he just broke the lock off, Sighing with relief as he spotted his backpack. It was a bit dirty, and there was a brand new tear in it, but when he opened it his spare clothes were in one piece so he was happy. Glancing around, he hopped back into the room to change into his old cloths.

With his clothes now on he slung the backpack over his shoulder and shuffled it into a comfortable position.

Sucking in a nervous breath, he exited the room again, this time keeping his head low and heading off down the hall. Though he had no idea where he was going, his Spidey sense was humming lowly in the back of his skull whenever a camera was on him, so he trusted it to guide him somewhere safe.

The halls were modern and expensive, to be expected from an avengers complex, but it still made him feel way too small for his liking.  He passed a window briefly and he peered out to check the area, confirming his suspicions that he was on the ground floor, that means there must be an exit nearby. He didn’t want to break anything, so a back door was the best option. He picked nervously at the bandages over his right wrist, glancing around and eyeing the cameras following him. The lack of security was unsettling  him, how had they not noticed him yet?

As if on que, FRIDAY’s voice spoke up, “Mr Parker, please head back to your room, the bathroom was 3 doors back”

He flinched, glancing up at the ceiling, but didn’t stop walking.

“I will have to call security to escort you back Mr Parker” she warned.

Peter simply sighed, stopping for a second and rolling his aching shoulders. After a moment of silence between him he took off, sprinting through the halls and turning corners at random, ignoring the flashes of colours and figures passing by as he ran.

He skidded around another corner, his Spidey sense flashing briefly as he dodged a hand reaching out for him. Narrowing his eyes, he was relieved to find a small door at the end of the hallway, already opened as a doctor walked through, sipping a coffee casually.

Peter ran under his outstretched arm, bursting into the open air with a big breath in of satisfaction. No time to stop though, as the security were rounding the corner behind him, and people were trying to grab him, sending horrible feelings of fear through his body and forcing his legs to move.

He ran across the tarmac towards the outer forest. Tarmac turned into dying leaves, and he glanced back as he passed into the beginnings of the forest. The security were lagging behind, but still running. he had hoped that they would give up.

Turning back to running, he dodged a few more trees, ears straining to hear the footsteps chasing him.

Time passed faster than expected, and soon enough he was getting tired. Well, more like he was aching incredibly, and his ribs felt all to constricting and painful. He slowed his gate, glancing left and right when he heard no footsteps behind him. When he glanced back, all he could see was an empty forest. 

His Spidey sense was humming lowly in the back of his skull, so he suspected they were still trying to find him. Keeping this in mind, he glanced around, hand on his right wrist as he considered biting the bandages off himself before continuing on.

He decided against it when he heard a distant sound. Freezing up, he started to jog again, but he couldn’t pinpoint what the sound was. A motorbike? A car? What kind of stuff does this security have?

He didn’t have time to dwell on it though, as a moment later a shadow moved across the ground beside him. Tilting his head up, he squinted against the midday sun, trying to see what it was.

Oh…. He was such a dumbass.

The moment he locked eyes with the ironman suit, he hurried up, running as fast as his aching legs would take him.

“Hey kid wait!”

He ignored him and continued to run, only to flinch as the sound of thrusters followed him.

A moment later, with a large blare of Spidey sense knocking him sideways, he dodged the outstretched hand about to wrap around his uninjured arm.  Rolling his ankle in the process he plunged into the ground, barely able to shoot his hand out to catch himself.

He shuffled away frantically y, heart pounding and arm prickling where metal fingers had brushed against him.

“Shit, you alright kid?”

He flinched and avoided eye contact with the man as he lowered to the ground with a clang. His heart was pounding heavily and he could feel his breath coming out in short shaky bursts. The man didn’t seem to notice at first; instead he leaned over, reaching out a hand to help him up.

For a moment all Peter could feel was terror, “Don’t touch me!” he choked out, flinching away from the mans outstretched hand.

Tony froze up, momentarily going silent as he slowly withdrew his shaking hand.

“Sorry” the billionaire whispered voice metallic and barely audible through the suits speakers. Peter didn’t respond, he couldn’t, his voice refused to work.

The teen’s fists clenched around the leaves on the ground, trying to calm his breathing, trying to think, trying to just get through this conversation, to make Tony let him go.

“Kid… are you alright?” The man asked tenderly, crouching down next to him, slowly and carefully as if Peter was a spooked animal.

Peter stared at him, eyes wide and flicking around, searching for some sign of danger. Words were stuck in his head, pounding in his skull and begging to be said, but his teeth were clenched shut painfully. Everything was slightly fuzzy, and for a brief moment Peter knew that at any moment he would start drifting.

“Kid, breath” Tony didn’t reach out this time, instead he made sure to stay a respectable distance away, his hand was outstretched slightly to get his attention though.

Upon realising he wasn’t breathing Peter let out a shaky quiet breath, Eyes never leaving the billionaire, but not making eye contact at all.

“Is there... something wrong at home?” his question was quiet, as if the billionaire didn’t want to ask that question at all, but had to.

Instantly a new wave of fresh panic shot through him and he barely managed to choke out an ineligible, “Don’tsendmeback!” 

The suit had no expression, as the man stared at him for a moment, and peter didn’t give him much time to process that, instead he continued.

“D-Don’t send me back! Please- Please I….” Tears were welling in his eyes, finally, “Let me go- I can… I can make It on my own I swear!” words were tumbling out of his mouth, and his hands were gesturing randomly in his panic, “I-I’m fine- I gotta go home to May I gotta-“ he choked, “I can’t go back there!”

“Peter” Tony sounded absolutely torn. “Peter… where… what do you mean… do they…” his voice cracked, but through the suit his expression could not be seen, “do they hurt you?”

A full body flinch ran through Peter, and he let out a small sob as tears spilled over his cheeks.  his whole body was shaking and his stomach was flipping around, forcing nausea up his throat.

Tony, having gotten enough of an answer now, let out a shaky sigh, hand clenching and unclenching periodically.

“look kid, I don’t think I can… do much i-“

For a split second, the scent of alcohol wafted into Peter’s senses, and instantly he gagged. He leaned to the side to avoid throwing up on anyone, and instead vomited onto the ground.

Tony looked conflicted, and for a moment his hand raised to comfort the vomiting boy. Instead he waited awkwardly, waiting for it to be done.

Peter, shaking and feeling cold now, managed to gag a few more times, before leaning back up to shoot a glare at the billionaire, “Go… Go away” he rasped, throat burning as he spoke.

“Can’t do that kid” Stark shook his head, “you’re injured”

Peter, still shaking and glaring; bitterness making his gaze sharp.

“you should come back to the hospital, doc is worried sick about ya”

Unconsciously, Peter’s nose scrunched up, not believing the man’s words. He looked away.

“I…I’m not sure what exactly is happening in your life…” Tony started, voice soft, “but If you aren’t safe at home… I won’t send you back”

Not expecting this at all, Peter head shot up in surprise.

Tony was looking into the forest, seemingly trying to avoid looking at Peter.

“W-what?” Peter rasped, eyes wide.

“I’m not cruel, if that space is not safe for you, I won’t force you there… besides…” he scratched his cheek sheepishly, “I have a feeling you are not staying with them currently”

Peter stared, unable to find the words to express the feeling in his throat.

“Am I wrong?” Tony asked worriedly.

He settled on shaking his head, because Tony was definitely not wrong.

“okay good” Tony stood up, slowly as to not scare the kid, “We’ll… I reckon we should take you back to the ward, you may have injured yourself again”

Peter shakenly got up as well, eyes following the suit cautiously as he did. It was hard to believe what was happening, but it was even harder to imagine where this was going now.

“Want a ride back kid?” the billionaire asked, head tilted curiously.

The very thought of being so close to someone else made Peter flinch noticeably, “Uh.. i… I really don’t think… uh”

As if knowing what he was thinking, Tony quickly interrupted, “I am not in this suit, I’m controlling it from my lab”

Peter stared, suddenly tuning in to the noticeable lack of heartbeat from the suit and when the faceplate flipped up to reveal wires and metal, he couldn’t help but be amazed.

“How?” He asked, eyeing the space curiously as he tried to imagine what would be involved in order to have such a realistic copy of a human figure.

“Got some badass gloves and glasses back here” the suit lifted his hand to point at its, empty, face before lowering sheepishly, “perhaps I can convince the doc to let you come up to my lab for a bit later” he joked, holding out a hand offhandedly, “I can walk you back still if you want, but I think flying is much more fun”

Peter paused, still uncomfortable with the lifelike suit, but when he reached out and took his hand, his skin didn’t prickle. Though he didn’t smile, he felt a surge of happiness through him when he found himself not flinching as he was lifted onto the suits back.

Muffling his mounting anxiety as he wracked his brain for ideas on how to avoid being x-rayed when he got back, he closed his eyes and clenched his fists as the suit took off into the sky.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the wait, by god things have been chaotic atm, and it doesn't help that i'm out of meds. 
> 
> also as i stated in the notes last time, my inspiration/motivation is dodgy at best, so sadly regular schedules are unlikely. sorry guys ;-;
> 
> no more art this time as well, but i do have to ask if you guys have any ideas? where do you want this to go? what do you want to see done? just throw shit at me to absorb, perhaps you may see your idea in later chapters.
> 
> EDIT: FORGOT TO ADD THIS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46cAxkUA6KY IT FEATURES MY OC AND SPIDERMAN.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a thing, i've been working on and off on this for ages, and i love it and its gonna get so much worse (better), so please leave a comment and let me know how i did! Critiques are also welcome as it helps me improve my writing <3


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